Iron Blooded Orphans: Starfall
by DragonKnightRyu
Summary: Gjallarhorn was not always what it is in this era of oppression. They were once noble heroes seeking to save humanity from the monsters of their own creation, and Agnika - knowing Humanities foolishness, prepared a volunteer to undergo Cryro freeze to ensure that the peace would last, and Gjallarhorn would be the noble group he created it to be. But... as we know, that wasn't true
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** As usual, I hold no ownership over Iron Blooded Orphans, nor any Bandai affiliated media.

Chapter One: Awakening

* * *

Blood, that was all she could see, all that seemingly remained of her parents as the _monster_ continued to attack the city. Their blood slid down her cheeks, joining her tears as she huddled in the corner, away from the pulpy mess that had been her family, crushed by the same debris that trapped her within their home.

The ground shook as another explosion ripped through the air and ground, the proximity slowly getting further and further away as the girl curled up on herself. "Why?" she sobbed to herself as she shook in fear and pain. "Why are we being punished like this?"

A noise made her break away from her questioning as something was causing the rocks to shift, a light breaking through as a large chuck was removed. "We have a survivor!" A masculine voice shouted. "Medic!"

Someone dropped in, revealing a large man, looking no older than 20, in a blood and dirt stained white uniform with a patch showing a lion holding a horn bearing seven stars upon it. "Young miss, are you alright?" He questioned as he moved closer to her. "To find a survivor in this disaster, truly, the gods were smiling upon you."

The girl blinked as she stared up at the man, surrounded by a halo of light, unable to see his features. "My name is Agnika Kaieru, what's yours, young miss?" The man smiled kindly as he reached out for her hand.

"A-Alice..." the girl whispered in awe as her hand haltingly reached out for his. "Alice… Senkei…"

"Come, Lady Alice, let's get you out of here," Agnika told her, taking her hand comfortingly and pulling her up. "And back out into the light where you belong."

* * *

"Are you sure of this?" Agnika questioned as he looked down at the small girl he saved, barely half a year ago. "There's a chance you will never wake up from the surgery…"

"I know," Alice replied in return, her green eyes staring back at the man who rescued her intensely. "This life you saved, I will not lose it so recklessly, I _will_ survive, and I will pilot a Gundam for you, no matter what."

The man looked down at her from where she lay on the operating table and placed a hand on her head, stroking her blond hair. "From the bottom of my heart, I give you my deepest thanks," he whispered to her, voice thick with emotion for the girl that refused to leave his side.

The girl smiled in return. "Of course," she replied simply before he stepped back to allow the doctors to begin prepping her for the surgery that could change the course of the war.

* * *

"As of now… all seventy-two of us are family!" Agnika shouted, his back showing the signs of the new and successful Alaya-Vijnana surgery, as did the back of each of the seventy-one barely pre-teen pilots before him. "We are Gjallarhorn, the stars that shall pierce the darkness that is being casted down upon us by the Mobile Armors that man has created in their folly! And when that darkness is dispelled, we shall lead mankind into a new era of peace and prosperity for all!"

He spread open his arms from atop his position on the Gundam Frame Bael, gesturing to the seventy-one pilots who stood on their own Gundam Frames as they saluted him, their hands covering the Gundam Frame's serial number tattooed with pride for all to see on their chest. "I thank you all for making it this far, and I ask of you, please!" he shouted, tears welling in his eyes. "Push further, now is the time of Mankind's counterattack!"

Alice raised her voice on top of the Gundam Frame Phenex with the other pilots, roaring out their approval and desire for victory.

"Then! Proud pilots of Gjallarhorn! WE FIGHT!"

* * *

"Alice… thank you for coming," Agnika said, his once youthful face, now lined with age and the stress from battle said as he looked upon one of his most faithful warriors who sacrificed everything for him.

"Of course," Alice replied, smiling at him, her green eyes not as shiny as they once were, dulled from battle and loss, but still holding the conviction that brought her through nearly a decade of war. "I'll always come when you call."

Agnika smiled fondly at the loyalty that she gave him. "Alice… I have asked much from you over the course of our time together, and… now that it's finally come to an end…" he trailed off a bit, looking down. "The future generations that will follow us… I am worried about what would happen if such creations as the Mobile Armors were to be made again… peace can rust the swords… even if they are still swung in training… that is why… Alice… I must ask of you, one last sacrifice… I-"

"Anything," Alice replied instantly, cutting him off. "Lord Agnika… you saved my life… you gave me the power to make sure that we ended the Mobile Armors, just ask, and I will do it."

Agnika smiled at his subordinate as he sighed. "I know I can trust you with this, Alice… I wish to place you in cryostasis and hide you away… for I fear for the future… not just of any enemies that may come, but… of what Gjallarhorn may become," he admitted, standing up so that he could place his hands on her shoulders. "Alice, I entrust onto you, the ideals and beliefs of Gjallarhorn today… to bring to the future."

Alice nodded firmly, her eyes glinting in determination. "Yessir, I promise… I will do this," she informed resolutely, making him smile before shocking her as he pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you Alice… no… my daughter,," he whispered to her, making the teen blush brightly in response as her eyes widened. "Go, and no matter what Gjallarhorn has become, follow your heart and know you can never dissapoint me."

Alice blinked back a few tears as she nodded. "I will," she assured. "No matter what, I will."

"Good, now go, the engineers are preparing your Gundam for you," he told her. "And know, everyone will support you, no matter what."

"I won't sir!" the girl assured with a bright smile.

"Good."

* * *

Green eyes fluttered open as she slowly felt the piercing cold receded from her body, awareness seeping into her. "Time to wake up… huh?" the girl questioned quietly as she slowly began shifting her body and checking her Alaya-Vijnana implant to make sure there was no damage. Looking outside of the viewscreen of the Phenex to the slowly powering room outside of her Gundam, it was a camouflaged station inside of an asteroid lined with Half-metal to hide her Gundam's Ahab Wave signal, and the inside was almost completely bare save for a few storage containers filled with supplies she might need upon waking and the Long Range Booster Pod that her unit connected with for long trips, like the one from Earth to Mars.

A blinking light caught her attention as she looked around, a message was waiting for her. Blinking a few times she reached out and pressed the button. " _Alice,_ " an aged by still recognizable voice spoke up, getting her attention. " _Alice, thank you for doing this, while you slept, I have sent several codes to the Phenex which access a backdoor into Gjallarhorn's systems. Should you chose to reveal yourself as a member of Gjallarhorn, use the codes within your Gundam and it will connect you with all of Gjallarhorn and authenticate your words, good luck, Alice._ "

Alice smiled sadly as she traced the console before her. "Thank you, Agnika," she whispered gratefully. "I won't let you down."

* * *

It took her a bit to get herself ready to leave the asteroid she had slept in for 300 year, her gundam stored in the Long Range Booster, along with the supplies from within the asteroid itself. The first thing she saw when she woke up was the glittering blue planet of her home. It looked unchanged from when she last saw it, a smile breaking out over her face as she witnessed it. "Home," she whispered in a cracking voice before gathering herself, shaking her head and wiping her eyes.

Regaining her focus she looked around to see a decently sized debris field surrounding her. A couple of Ahab-Wave reactions were showing up on her sensors, but all of them originated from derelict ships that hadn't been around when she went into cryo. A smirk flittered onto her face - just like Agnika to find a secondary way to hide her from prying eyes.

Looking past the debris she saw the Colony that was planned to be built nearby, it was to be called Dort if she remembered correctly, along with a satellite that was transferring a Gjallarhorn IFF. Well, it looked like there was her starting point for finding out more about this new world she was in. All she had to do was send her own IFF to it to gain access to the data feeds that were stored within and hopefully a link back to the bases on Earth.

* * *

It was disgusting, completely disgusting…

Alice narrowed her eyes as she looked over the information she acquired from Gjallarhorn's databases, her old codes still working perfectly and allowed her access to _all_ levels of data. Data which showed a staggering amount of corruption filling the once noble Gjallarhorn forces that she and her friends bled and died to create.

"Agnika… It's good that you are no longer here to see this," she whispered despondently. "Too see what your dream has become…"

She shook her head as her Gundam drifted through space from where it had been stored, near a colony site halfway between Mars and the Earth. She turned the Gundam, which was currently in it's MA mode, towards Mars and engaged the boosters. "The Earth is nothing but a cesspool of corruption and greed now," she muttered bitterly. "Then what did we fight for, what did so many of us die for?"

A sigh escaped her lips. "I guess for now, I'm just going to disappear," she said to herself as she rocketed towards Mars. "Might as well see what's become of Mars in 300 years."

* * *

It was safe to say that Mars hadn't fared much better than Earth, being the subject of oppression from the new three economic blocs that sprung up after what they called the 'Calamity War'. Many children being forced to undergo the Alaya-Vijnana implantation if they wanted any work at all, work that ended up being nearly suicidal in some cases, and that was without mentioning the 'Human Debris' matter.

With her Gundam well hidden in a Gjallarhorn safehouse that was apparently kept out of the books Alice began looking for work, ending up at a PMC company called Chryse Guard Security, or CGS as it was more commonly referred to.

Although she did end up being put with a bunch of kids in CGS' Third Group being led by a teen named Orga Itsuka, that part, she didn't mind, there was something about these kids that reminded her of her family from Gjallarhorn, that despite everything being put against them… they were still willing to fight for what's theirs.

"So, you're the new mobile worker pilot?" a tanned boy with white hair and golden eyes questioned as he studied her carefully, his eyes flicking over her, admittedly, curvy form before settling straight into her own eyes, his right eye being covered by a single bang as he met her gaze.

"Alice Senkei," she replied with a nod. "Are you Orga Itsuka? The _boss_ said to meet with you." she spat out the title 'boss', only reason she took this job was because it really was the only job she _could_ take with her skills.

Orga smirked as he picked up on her distaste for the fat man that decided their fates. "Yeah, pleasure to meet you, this is Biscuit Griffon," he said as he gestured to a rotund boy wearing a cap with wide green eyes brimming with optimism. "And he's Mikazuki Augus," a gesture to his other side where a tiny teen with black hair and blue eyes wearing an overlarge CGS coat with a bored look. "We're pretty much the command staff of the Third Group, for whatever good that does."

Alice smirked at him. "Well, just listening to you now, I can tell your orders would be better for my stomach than that fat tub of lard," she commented as they began to walk through the complex.

The two larger boys laughed while Mikazuki simply chewed on a date of some kind. "This is the power source of the base," Orga explained as he opened a door, making Alice freeze as her eyes widened. "An old mobile suit that Maruba had found, he's still split between selling it and keeping it, although he did sell off some of the parts and weapons for it."

Alice had only been listening with half an ear during Orga's explanation. ' _Gundam… Barbatos… it was piloted by David Rashid… so this is what has become of it…_ ' she thought sadly as she looked up at the incomplete Gundam.

"What's wong?" a bored voice question, making her look over at Mikazuki who was staring at her intently.

"Ah, it's nothing," she replied, shaking her head. "It just seems like such a waste to leave a mobile suit here just for power."

"It is, isn't it?" Orga agreed with a small smirk.

Alice shook her head again. "So, where is this mobile worker that I am to pilot?" she asked. "I'd like to get familiarized with it to tune it up."

"How much experience do you have working with mobile workers?" Orga raised an eyebrow. "The old geezer never let us take a look at your resume."

"I have a few years of experience under my belt," she informed with a shrug, not a complete lie, Gjallarhorn _did_ use mobile workers when the Gundams were under construction or being repaired. "I also have some repair experience under my belt."

"We'll need to test you out first, since we don't have any idea of your actual skill," Orga nodded, glancing over at an orange-haired teen. "Shino!"

Alice shrugged in acceptance as the teen walked over and listened to Orga's explanation and nodded. "Alright!" he agreed eagerly, smacking his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Don't expect me to go easy on you!"

Alice snorted in return, amused by the teen's irritableness. "Same to you," she replied teasingly. "Now, where shall we do this?"

"Outside the base," Orga jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Biscuit, get her one of the spare mobile workers."

"Right!" Biscuit nodded and hurried off.

"Well, this should be interesting," Alice commented with a smile as she looked her opponent over.

"By the way, how did you get an Alaya-Vijnana implant? I've never heard of or seen any female Human Debris, any captured girls usually end up in the sex slave market," Orga's eyes bored into Alice.

Alice shrugged. "I was never Human Debris," she informed, no hint of a lie in her voice. "My former group ended up going our separate ways after most of us died and I ended up here on Mars, no other place for me to work at with my skill set other than PMCs."

"I see," Orga's eyes narrowed, not entirely convinced but accepting her explanation for now. "We'll test your skills first, then assign you a unit. Do be warned, our units are old and barely holding up - the old geezer's never seen fit to give us the newer stuff going into the other groups. I'm surprised he tossed you in with us, although he probably did that after finding out you have an Alaya-Vijnana implant."

Alice snorted, remembering the look in his eyes when he found out about it. "No doubt," she agreed as she followed them to the mobile workers. "But, I don't regret getting it, I was able to help my friend in the end with its help."

"Is that so?" Orga had an unreadable expression on his face. "I won't ask what happened to that friend."

"Thank you," Alice said gratefully as they came into the mobile worker hanger, Orga hadn't been lying about their condition, some of them looking like they were _from_ the Calamity War. Nonetheless she walked over to Biscuit who waved her over to a mobile worker. "Doesn't look to be in bad condition actually," she commented to the chubby teen as she pulled off the jacket she was wearing to show the black sports bra underneath and the AV hookup.. "Mind helping me hook up?"

"Oh… oh," Biscuit looked away with a blush as he pulled the plug out from the seat as she settled in and tried to plug it into the implant while looking and trying not to look at the same time. "Um… uh, am I doing it properly?" he blustered, completely missing the implant in his attempt at not staring.

Alice couldn't help the giggle that escaped from her mouth. "Don't worry about looking," she commented assuringly. "I'm more than used to it, had to pilot topless one actually."

Biscuit's mind seemed to shut down for a moment before he shook his head and decided he needed to erase that mental image from his mind, by blunt trauma if needed. "Alright…" he let out a heavy sigh and looked properly before plugging it in. "You're lucky I'm the only one who heard you… Shino would have had a more extreme reaction."

"Ah, the innocence of youth," she teased lightly as she felt the connection link her to the mobile worker. "There we go, thank you Biscuit," she said as she climbed into the cockpit, closed the hatch and familiarized herself with the controls. "300 years and nothing's different in these at least," she murmured under her breath.

"Everything alright?" Biscuit called out, rapping on the hatch.

"All good here, just thinking about some of the tuning that it could use," Alice answered back as she continued to power the Worker up. "Are the paint rounds loaded?"

"Already done," a dark-skinned mechanic nodded as he walked up to the mobile worker to inspect it, his metal prosthetic feet clinking on the floor. "Don't see many girls around these parts, usually it's just Cookie, Cracker and Atra. Take good care of yourself out there, alright?"

Alice cracked a confident smile at the older man. "Don't worry, I've been doing this for a while now," she assured as she tested the movements a bit, rolling around the hangar to make sure it was working properly. "Alright, I'm ready to go whenever Shino is."

"Just head straight out the gates, Shino is already waiting for you outside the compound," Biscuit indicated the open hangar doors. "Good luck."

"Heh, that the new girlie in there?"

"Yeah, we're testing her," Mikazuki replied as the new girl left the hanger, a group of Third Group members heading out to watch.

"You know, when she arrived, I thought she was here to give some head!"

"Yeah, I bet whoever got her just took pity on her after using her for a bit!"

"Good luck getting me to even touch your ugly ass!" Alice shouted over the mobile worker's speaker as she squared off against Shino.

" _You ass-"_ Shino yelled, already beginning to move.

"Stop it, Shino," Orga raised a calm hand.

"Huh, did you just backtalk to your superiors in the First Group?" the seeming leader of the bunch of goons drawled, pointing at Shino. "You know what'll happen if you cross us, right?"

"I'll accept any punishment on his behalf," Orga stepped in front of the bunch of troublemakers with a calm look.

Alice looked over with narrowed eyes as she watched Orga stand up for his subordinate, a brief image of Agnika superimposing itself over him, making her smile. "Right, how about we get this show underway, Shino?" she said as she focused on her opponent.

" _Tch, dammit Orga…"_ Shino growled as he turned back towards Alice. _"I wish he didn't have to do that for us all the time…"_

"Then make sure it isn't wasted," Alice advised as the two headed out to the barren land beyond the gate and began circling one another.

" _Oh damn right I'll make sure it's not wasted!"_ Shino shouted as he began opening fire, paint rounds blasting out from the machine guns mounted to the sides of his mobile worker.

Alice maneuvered around the rounds firing her own back at Shino, cataloguing the terrain as she moved, using several boulders as cover from the paint rounds as she danced around Shino. "Oh, this is going to be fun," she drawled as she closed in, firing at Shino.

" _Oryaaa!"_ Shino roared as he performed a jump with the mobile worker to evade, maintaining enough control over the maneuver to fire several rounds down from the air.

Alice grinned as she flared her own thrusters to launch herself out of the way of the shells and tracked Shino's path before firing shells along it, predicting where he was going to land.

" _Not hitting me so easily!"_ the hotheaded MW pilot flared his thrusters as well to push him sideways before continuing to fire wildly.

Alice danced around the shells easily as she moved around the terrain, picking her shots carefully as she tried to slowly trap Shino.

" _Take this!"_ another yell punctuated a sudden forward zigzagging motion as Shino rammed his MW into Alice's abruptly, although she recovered in time and dodged the follow-up burst of machine gun fire.

" _Oi! Take it easy, this isn't supposed to be actual combat!"_ Biscuit groaned over the comms.

"You wanted to see my skills right?" Alice questioned as she returned the favour by way of a kick Shino's unit as she fired her machine guns.

" _Augh!"_ a cry rang out as Shino was peppered with paint rounds. _"You're good!"_ he declared, diving back into the melee bashing his gun arms against Alice's MW.

" _Oi, oi, I'm going to have to do a lot of fixing after this so-called mock battle's over,"_ the mechanic groaned.

"Don't worry, I'll help out when I'm finished with Shino here," Alice promised as she landed a few more paint rounds on Shino's machine before kicking him away again.

" _You'd better,"_ the mechanic grumbled.

" _Hey, I'm not a football!"_ Shino protested as he took another kick.

" _He's literally getting kicked around…"_ Biscuit let out a bit of hesitant laughter at the sight.

" _She's… pretty good,"_ Mikazuki commented as he ate another date, watching the battle intensely.

"Ready to give up yet?" Alice questioned tauntingly as she landed few more paint rounds on Shino's unit.

"Hell no!" Shino hollered as he rushed back into melee range again. _"ORYAAAA!"_

 ***CLANG***

" _STOP KICKING ME!"_

"Why should I? It's rather fun," she commented with a giggle.

" _GRRRR!"_ a spray of paint rounds passed through the air Alice had been occupying as Shino decided he'd had enough of being kicked around and switched tactics. _"STOP MOVING SO I CAN SHOOT YOU!"_

"Hmm, pretty sure I should be doing the opposite of that," Alice replied as she returned fire. "Y'know, dodging bullets being a very vital part of being alive and all that."

" _EAT PAINT!"_

 ***SPLAT***

" _I think that's a win for Alice,"_ Biscuit remarked, watching as Shino fell back with a bright paint splatter over the cockpit area of his mobile worker.

"I think I agree, how about you, Shino?" Alice questioned cheerfully.

" _I WANT A REMATCH!"_ Shino roared.

"Some other time," Alice replied with a chuckle as she began to move her unit back to the hanger. "I want to work on tuning up my new machine, I did pass, right, Orga?"

"Yes… yes you did," Orga breathed somewhat laboriously as he walked back into the hangar, favouring one leg but trying not to show it.

Alice narrowed her eyes as she took in his condition, but respected his determination. "I look forward to working with you then," she said as she climbed out of the hatch, still connected to the machine. "You can count on me."

"Thank you," Orga nodded grimly. "If you run into any trouble with the other groups, let me know."

"I will," Alice assured with a nod. "Do you need a lift?"

"No, I'll be fine," Orga let out a pained grunt disguised as a cough. "They'll see it as a sign of weakness and start beating us up again if you do that. I'm sorry your first day had to be like this."

"Don't apologise," Alice told him with a piercing look. "The commander should never apologise for making the decision he felt was best."

"Yes… the commander shouldn't," Orga nodded with a strained smile. "Glad to have you with us, Alice."

Alice nodded in return. "Good to be with you as well," she said before pulling her unit into the hangar for tuning. She decided she could definitely make her home with them. Especially when she garnered enough trust with Orga to learn what their eventual plan was. Yes, she could definitely make her home with CGS' Third Group.

* * *

"Ah, excuse me, is this… Chryse Guard Security?" a female voice called out.

Several suspiciously happy voices replied, "Yes this is! How can we help you?"

"I'm here to make a food supply delivery? From Gardenia Farms?"

"Right, right, in this way please!"

The main gate opened to admit a large truck with the Gardenia Farms logo emblazoned on its side being driven by a long-haired brunette who was smiling awkwardly on the way in.

"Wish they'd remember my face is up here…" she sighed once she had cleared sight range of the guards, rubbing her shoulder with a hand as the goosebumps hit her. "You could read their intentions a mile away with their looks…"

She shook it off and decided to just finish her delivery and leave. Of all times for their regular deliveryman to be on leave…

* * *

Alice grunted as she adjusted the bolt on her mobile worker to pop off the panel to the internal wiring to work on the connections. "Hey, Ride was it? Can you pass me the wire strippers?" she called out to an orange haired boy nearby.

"Uh… right!" the boy nodded as he began rummaging in a toolbox.

Alice accepted the tool he handed her. "These are wire clippers," she pointed out after a glance. "Wire strippers have the circular end."

"Oh, sorry!" Ride apologized and replaced the tool before diving back into the toolbox. "I'm not much of a mechanic, more of a pilot."

"You should still learn how your machine works, it'll allow you to bring the most out of it," Alice instructed as she began working on optimizing the mess of wires inside of the worker. "If you know it's limits, then you know how to push them beyond it."

"It's kind of hard for most of us, miss," Ride rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Most of us don't know how to read and write, so we can't even read the manuals. Most of the time it's the old man teaching us how to do it."

Alice frowned a bit in response. "Come here, I'll show a trick to increase the feedback response," she said after a moment, making room for the small kid to see what she was doing.

"Okay!" Ride shimmied over to look, glancing at the implants poking out of her back. "Were you Human Debris too? I've never seen a girl Human Debris."

"Nah, I wasn't Debris," she replied as she continued her work, showing him which wires he wanted to work with. "I go the AV implants for… personal reasons."

"Personal reasons?" Ride blinked.

"In other words, it's private," Alice told him, poking his forehead playfully. "Now, see these wires here, they're connected to the fuel pump, now if I just make a small adjustment here… it'll increase the amount of fuel injected, it increases the fuel consumed, but gives it more horsepower in return."

"Oh, I see!" Ride perked up.

"Hello? Anyone here?"

Alice pulled her head out of the internals of the worker to look up. "Yes?" she called back. "You need something?"

"Ah, I'm supposed to be delivering some supplies, but I'm not sure where to put them…?" a brunette with long wavy hair poked her head out into view of the hangar. "Oh, this isn't the warehouse?"

"Nope, hangar, Ride, where _is_ the warehouse at?" Alice questioned, looking down at the boy.

"It's on the other side of the base," Ride pointed.

"Oh," the girl sank visibly.

Alice patted Ride on the shoulder. "Let's go give her a hand, shall we?" she said as she began walking towards the girl. "My name is Alice, nice to meet you, miss?"

"Er, I'm Yuzuki. Yuzuki Gardenia," the girl nodded as she held out her hand to shake.

Alice grasped it and shook in return, her eyes narrowing briefly before smiling. "Lead the way, Ride," she told the child who nodded. "So, been on Mars for very long?"

"I was born here actually," Yuzuki smiled, eyeing the young boy with an unreadable look. "Born and raised here, though I've been off planet a few times."

"Hmm," Alice hummed in response as she looked over the base as a group of Third Group soldiers passed by in a light jog, calling out greetings to Ride and Alice. "What's your opinion on the current situation here on Mars then?"

"It's sad," a regretful Yuzuki shook her head and flinched as a bunch of passing men shot her hungry looks. "And at times disgusting."

Alice shot a glare at the members of First Group before she made a motion of neck cutting. "I guess sad is one word for it," she agreed as they approached the warehouse. "Although, I hear that Bernstein girl is trying to change that."

"It would be nice if she could," Yuzuki agreed, favouring the time-displaced pilot with a smile. "It's nice to see another girl around here… although don't you feel uncomfortable here?"

Alice shrugged. "I'm used to being the only girl amongst guys," she replied easily. "Plus I know how to break their balls in several ways if they try something that I do not appreciate."

"I should probably learn that," Yuzuki let out a regretful sigh as she pulled open the door of her truck and gestured for the two pilots to get in. "Might have at least stopped me from being kidnapped all those years back."

Alice raised her eyebrow before dropping the obviously painful subject. "It's quite simple really, you just need to introduce their genitalia to your foot, rinse and repeat," she informed humorously.

"What's… genitalia?" the orange-haired boy beside them asked, causing Yuzuki to almost floor the accelerator in shock - fortunately the truck's engine was off.

"It's another word for your private parts, Ride," Alice replied, completely nonplussed by the conversation direction. "Where you pee from."

"Oh!" Ride's eyes lit up in recognition. "I got kicked there during training once… It really hurt."

"I thought you used some fancy martial art like kung fu or tai chi or combat sambo or stuff like that," Yuzuki attempted to change the subject as she turned on the engine with a quick push of a button and gently eased the truck back onto the road.

Alice snorted in response. "Not really, some grounding in Krav Maga, but most of my focus is in piloting," she replied with a nostalgic smirk.

"Piloting?" Yuzuki blinked, glancing at a passing mobile worker. "Don't see girls in this line of work often."

Alice shrugged. "It's what I'm good at, plus with these implants, not like I can get any other kind of job," she pointed out. "And I don't feel like earning by laying on my back."

"Yeah… neither do I," Yuzuki let out a bit of a forced chuckle.

"What do you mean?" an oblivious Ride blinked in confusion. "Ah, take a left here!"

"Girl stuff," Yuzuki quickly snapped out a not-explanation as she turned the wheel, going past more mobile workers.

"You'll understand when you get older, Ride," Alice assured, patting his head.

"Don't you find it… scary, fighting like that?" Yuzuki asked, glancing over at where they were reloading a mobile worker's machine guns. "You could lose your life at any moment."

Alice chuckled in response. "Compared to what I faced with my last group, mobile workers will be relatively easy," she answered, looking off into the distance. "Plus, there should be a relative lack of having to worry about non-combatants."

"CGS isn't very well-known for competency though," Yuzuki whispered, making sure none of the people outside could hear her. "My company's heard a lot about that from the other companies that do long-range shipping - not to mention the appalling use of Human Debris as cannon fodder… I only wish more people felt the same on the subject as I do."

"It was the only place that I could find that didn't ask too many questions about my background," Alice said with a relaxed shrug. "And people tend to ignore what they don't see."

"You weren't Human Debris before?" the brunette queried as another turn of the wheel led them past a barracks where several boys and teens were training outside.

Alice shook her head in a negative. "Nope, got these because I volunteered," she informed, gesturing to the implant on her back. "The person I owed my life too, needed my help, so I gave it."

"That's as good a reason as any I suppose," Yuzuki nodded, her eyes flicking backwards momentarily.

"The warehouse is on the left just after here," Ride spoke up, pointing in the direction of said building.

"I'll give you a ride back to your hangar after this?" the brunette offered as they came up beside the warehouse and she backed the truck into one of the unloading bays.

"Sure," Alice agreed as she climbed out to help unload the truck. "I need to finish tuning my worker anyways."

"I think I might prefer to stay in the truck for now," Ride said after taking a look outside.

"I understand," Yuzuki nodded in understanding as she jumped out of the cab and moved to open the rear doors of the truck. As she did, several of the workers moved towards her and she wrinkled her nose at the smell of booze. "Hi, are you the unloading crew?" she forced a mask on her face.

"Yeah," one of them said with a bit of a slur as the others began to pull the crates of food out. "You got the documents?"

"I do," Yuzuki confirmed as she held out a clipboard with several documents on it. "Please sign here and here," she indicated several places on the documents.

The man looked them over carefully before signing with a surprisingly steady hand. "Alright, it all looks in order," he commented before looking at the workers. "Anything missing?"

"It's all here!" A worker confirmed as they pulled out the last of the crates.

"Alright, that's everything then," the lead worker confirmed before handing back the paperwork.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you," Yuzuki gave another forced smile as she headed to close the cargo doors and yelped when a meaty palm smacked against her butt. "H-Hey!"

"Sure you don't want to do _more_ busi-" the man started before being stopped by a knife to his throat.

"How about no?" Alice questioned in a cold, bored, voice as she held the point of her knife pulled from somewhere on her person to his throat.

"Ugh…" the man gulped before taking a few steps back. "F-fine…"

"Thanks, Alice…" a relieved Yuzuki sighed as she rubbed her bum and climbed back into the cab. "Ugh, I need a shower."

Alice shrugged as the knife disappeared somewhere. "No worries," she replied as she leaned back in the seat. "Nothing gets your point across like the point of a knife."

Yuzuki reached into the glove compartment and withdrew a long, curved khukri. "Mine's a little too big to carry around concealed," she agreed.

"Then don't conceal it," Alice suggested. "After all, you'd be surprise how many lose their balls when they see a girl carrying a big knife."

"It's bad for business though," the brunette chuckled, hiding the khukri again after Ride had a good look at it. "I'm usually not the one doing deliveries but our usual driver called in sick today so I had no choice but to leave my desk job for a bit."

Alice shrugged as she relaxed. "Eh, everyone has their own way with dealing with that stuff," she commented with a shrug.

"That's a pretty cool knife!" Ride remarked. "What's it called?"

"It's a knife from Earth called a khukri," Yuzuki explained. "Mostly it's used in a country called Nepal."

"Used more for slicing than stabbing," Alice pitched in. "They also combined it with their local martial art for deadly effect."

"Indeed," Yuzuki nodded sagely. "Though I got mine as a gift without any training in it…"

Alice shrugged. "Eh, it's sharp and can cut, that's good enough," she commented. "What more can you ask for from a knife?"

"I guess," Yuzuki smiled, driving the truck over to the hangar she had picked up the two pilots from. "Alright, here's your stop. I hope to see you two again."

"You know where to find us," Alice said with a wave as she headed towards the hangar. "Doubt I'll be heading anywhere anytime soon."

"Well, if you're called out to the battlefield…" Yuzuki frowned for a moment, leaving it hanging as both of them knew very well what could happen on the battlefield. "Best of luck to you, Alice."

Alice looked at her with a smirk. "Same to you," she returned before entering the hangar to keep working on her mobile worker.

"It was nice talking to you!" Ride waved as he jumped out of the cab as well.

Yuzuki waved as well, before sighing, looking over the bunch of kids working in the hangar with a wistful look and pulling the truck away from the hangar.

As she did, she reached behind her and rubbed her back, her fingers running across a pair of small tents mostly hidden by the thicker fabric specially sewn there.

"Well, I hope I don't see you on the other side of the battlefield anytime soon…" she muttered to herself, forcing another smile onto her face as she stopped in front of the guard house again.

* * *

 **Mobile Suits**

Model Number:ASW-G-37 Gundam Phenex  
Unit Type: Transforming Long Range Interception Mobile Suit  
Powerplant: 2x Ahab Reactors  
Manufacture: Gjallarhorn  
Operator(s):  
Gjallarhorn (Formerly)  
Tekkaden  
Equipment and Design Features:  
Nanolaminate Armor  
Alaya-Vijnana System  
Cryogenic Stasis System  
Fixed Armament:  
2x 120mm Autocannons, mounted in forearm armor, deployed in use, usable in both modes  
4x 100mm Autocannons, mounted in wing binders, usable in both modes  
2x Knuckle Guards  
2x Wire-Guided Nano-Laminate Cutting Blades, mounted in wings, deployed or hand carried in use  
Pilot(s): Alice Senkei  
Appearance: Based on a unique Gundam frame that is capable of shifting its form into a plane like mode for greater speed and maneuverability, it's armor is thinner than most mobile suits. Painted primarily red with black trim and white highlights.  
Info:One of the 72 Gundam Frames used by Gjallarhorn in the Calamity War, the Gundam Phenex was primarily used to intercept enemy mobile armors and hold them off while the main forces arrived, allowing time for civilians to escape the combat zones. However, it held a second purpose, after the final Mobile Armor was defeated, the Phenex and it's pilot were to enter stasis for 300 years, only to awaken when either 300 years have passed, or more mobile armors appeared, to allow an experienced veteran to continue their fight and lead the future forces of Gjallarhorn in combat against them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** As usual, I hold no ownership over Iron Blooded Orphans, nor any Bandai affiliated media.

Chapter Two: A New Beginning

Alice sighed as she stretched her arms as she climbed out of the hatch of her mobile worker. "So, how many wins does that make for me now, Shino?" she asked playfully as Shino climbed out of his own paint splattered mobile worker.

"Another… rematch!" the MW pilot huffed, leaning against a patch of clean armour - there wasn't a lot of those patches.

"I believe you're sitting somewhere around 60-to-0 in Alice's favour over the last three months," Orga commented in amusement as he walked past with the ever present Mikazuki nearby. "I think you should quit while you still have some dignity left, Shino!"

"Never!" Shino growled, staggering to his feet. "I'm never ever going to give up! One… more… time!"

"Some other time, Shino," Alice replied with a shake of her head. "I'm scheduled to help out in the hangar."

"One… more…" Shino groaned out, reaching towards Alice. "If I… beat you once, will you let me touch your boobs?"

Alice raised her eyebrow with a smirk. "Only way that would happen is if you somehow managed to pass me in wins," she replied without missing a beat.

"Damn, shot down immediately!" a blonde young man grinned as he smacked Shino upside the head. "But really Shino, you're never going to get a win against her anytime soon!"

Alice chuckled in amusement. "Don't tease him too much, Eugene, after all, it's not his fault only Akihiro and Mikazuki can keep up with me," she said teasingly.

"Mika's a lot better though," Eugene shrugged, glancing over at the taciturn boy. "He's what, 6-3 against you?"

Alice shrugged in response. "At least I can actually land hits against him… unlike a certain someone," she commented with a sideways glance at said person.

Shino made a strangled noise and began coughing.

"Well, he _is_ our best after all," Orga agreed with a proud smile, before his expression turned serious. "We've got a job coming in tomorrow, the client specifically requested for us."

"Eh, are we suddenly famous?" a rather taken-aback Shino rejoined the conversation.

"I don't think that's it," Alice commented dryly as she pulled her jacket on. "Probably some kind of political statement or something by using us."

"Who's the client?" Eugene asked.

"I'll give a briefing later, it'll be easier to do it when everyone's gathered together," Orga replied, looking around the hangar. "This is a big chance for us to show up those First Group guys."

"Always fun to do that," Alice pitched in cheerfully. "Don't worry Orga, we'll all be on our best behaviour."

"If only we could just take over this whole place…" Eugene sighed, throwing a cautious glance over at several of the older men belonging to the First Group that were walking around. "Then we wouldn't have to deal with all their shit."

"Don't go spouting stuff like that Eugene," Alice said in a low voice and a hard look. "Do you _want_ to make them suspicious of us?"

"You can't say you haven't thought about it before, right?" Eugene grumbled, folding his arms. "They treat us all like trash - expendable trash. If Orga was in charge, he'd be able to turn things around."

Alice sighed in response. "True, but what would First Group do if they heard you talking like that?" she questioned pointedly. "What would they do to _Orga_ if they heard you talking like that?"

"That's why I'm whispering!" Eugene protested.

"You never know where there may be ears listening," Alice replied, shaking her head. "I saw too many people die because of loose lips."

"Yeah," Orga agreed. "Eugene, cut it out, discussing it here won't do any good."

"What do you need us to get ready?" Alice asked, turning to Orga.

"Your A-game, be on your best behavior," Orgs replied quickly. "Make sure all the mobile workers are kept maintained properly."

"You're expecting combat already?" Biscuit gasped.

"Always expect the worst, Biscuit," Orga admonished, closing one eye. "I have a bad feeling about this too."

Alice frowned. "Understood, I'll get them all topped up and ready," she assured. "They'll be ready to go ASAP."

"Thanks Alice," Orga favored the girl with a smile.

"You know, it's kind of hard to believe you're actually a girl sometimes," Shino interjected. "I mean, you've been with us for a few months already and hang out with us and all… but you seem to like doing all the guy stuff."

Alice rose an eyebrow in response. "What, because I'm a girl I can't enjoy doing something that guys do?" she asked skeptically. "Or I'm not able to do it?"

"It's just I expected girls to do other stuff, wear nice-looking clothes…" Shino grinned. "And whatever that stuff is that you put on your faces."

Alice snorted in response. "First off, the other stuff is fine when I have free time, nice-looking clothes are uncomfortable for me for the most part," she listed humorously. "And all that shit that's put on faces? Feels gross to wear it."

"So you're a… t-t-tambay?" Shino fumbled the unfamiliar word.

Alice sighed. "Tomboy," she replied, shaking her head. "And yes, I am."

"Heh, at least that means you're hanging around with the cooler crowd!" Shino grinned boisterously, throwing an arm around her shoulder.

Alice swatted his hand playfully as it neared her chest. "I may be a tomboy, but you're going to need to try harder than that if you want to cop a feel," she informed teasingly.

"Damn it," Shino groaned in disappointment.

Alice chuckled in response. "Anyways, I'll be working on the mobile workers, if you have any last minute tune-ups you better say it now before things get too crazy," she announced before moving off to a group of mobile workers.

"I'm good," Shino shook his head.

"Me too," Mikazuki said, popping another date into his mouth.

"Alright then, see ya guys later then," Alice informed before diving into her job of maintaining the Third Group's mobile workers.

"So, that's Kudelia, huh?" Alice commented from the mobile worker she was working on as the blonde noble girl walked past, guided by Mikazuki. "Hm, seems pretty privileged."

"Oooh, she's pretty!" Shino whispered.

"Eh, 7 out of 10," Alice countered after another brief look before nudging Shino and jerking her head at a bundle of wires she was holding apart. "Hold these here for me?"

"7 out of 10 only? She's at least a 9 to me," Shino grumbled as he took the wires.

Alice snorted as she started making adjustments on the worker. "She talks big, but she doesn't know what it's like to have dirty hands," she informed. "She says she understands, but she really doesn't."

"At least she's trying," Orga shrugged as he stepped up to the two. "Which is already better than the people in the First Group."

Alice grunted in response. "So, I take it the princess is our client then?" she questioned as made some minute adjustments.

"Yeah. The job is to escort her to Earth to negotiate with Arbrau over Chryse's rights," Orga sighed, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't understand a good half of that political crap."

"Basically she's trying to make Mars Earth's equal," Alice replied as she popped a panel open a bit to shine a penlight inside to check it. "Get ready for some fights, boss, people aren't going to want the status quo to change."

"That one at least I got," the silver-haired leader of the Third Group nodded firmly, setting his expression in stone. "We need to double and triple-check the mobile workers. I want everyone on alert for any sign of trouble. And make sure all of ours are operational - I don't trust the First Group to reinforce us if shit hits the fan."

"You got that right, boss," Shino snorted derisively at the mention of their so-called superiors. "We're _expendable_ after all."

"Hey, boss," Alice called out quietly, getting Orga's attention. "What about Snow White there? Do you want to wake that one up?"

"Snow White?" Orga blinked.

"The mobile suit," Alice replied with a shrug. "Old fairy tale."

"Oh. I had the old man take another look at it, he's already trying to fix it," Orga nodded. "He's having to be quiet about it so it'll only be ready by tomorrow, he thinks."

"So… who's going to pilot it?" Shino failed to keep the excitement from showing on his face.

"That should be obvious. We'll be having our ace Mika pilot it," Orga said without hesitation, glancing at the short boy beside him.

"Good choice," Alice said in agreement, meeting Mikazuki's gaze for a moment. "We only have the Mace for it, right?"

"Yeah," Orga nodded in agreement. "We should be able to get a smoothbore gun for zero-gee operations though."

"Right," Alice nodded in understanding. "Mobile workers are ready for the most part, only one or two that need some repairs from training accidents."

Orga's eyes narrowed and began shifting between Alice and Shino.

"Not ours," Alice replied seeing his look. "Two of the newer ones thought to try and replicate some of the maneuvers me and Mikazuki use, ended up snapping the axles and losing the ball bearings."

"Fix them up as soon as you can," Orga ordered. "Draft in some of the usual pilots to get it done if you need to."

Alice nodded. "I'll do what I can," she assured as she made some final adjustments. "Just remember I'm not a miracle worker."

"It's alright if you can't make it," Orga shrugged. "We'll work with what we have."

"Just the usual then, huh…" Biscuit sighed, adjusting his cap.

Alice chuckled. "Hey, at least we'll have one hell of a surprise waiting for them if someone does attack," she countered with a look to Mikazuki.

"Un," Mikazuki grunted with the barest of nods.

Alice snorted at the short response. "Alright, if I'm going to have any chance of getting those workers ready I'm going to have to get started on them now," she said, before whirling on the brown-haired pilot beside her. "Shino, you're helping me!"

"What why me?" the pilot asked plaintively.

"Because you tried to touch my ass two seconds ago!"

"Dammit!"

"So she's finally moving…"

"Indeed, milady. Shall we prepare the camouflaged trailer in case something happens?"

"Please do. We can't afford to let anything happen to her. I've heard from some of our people that Gjallarhorn forces are already on the move."

"Will you be alright, milady? The opponents aren't your standard fare of pirates and bandits."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later. We can't ignore the corruption within their organization for much longer given it's a major reason we have a big pirate problem."

"If you're sure, I won't contest your decision. But please stay safe. Your mask may protect your identity but it's not going to protect your body."

"I know that very well. Hmmm, she's at the CGS compound? Interesting."

"Is there something wrong with the location?"

"No, nothing."

Alice sighed as she looked at the gutted mobile worker she was working on. "This one is no good," she groaned, shaking her head. "We need parts we don't have to fix this one, stash it out of the way for now, I can't do anything else with it!"

"Right!" one of the kid workers called out as they manipulated the crane the worker was hanging from.

"Such a pain, how the hell did the axle get stabbed into the central bearing like that?" Alice shook her head again as she turned to the second unit.

"Where's the old man anyway?" one of the kids asked. "We could really use him here…"

"He's working on something for Orga and Mika," Alice answered, keeping the exact project quiet. "He'll probably be at it for most of the night, so it's up to us to get everything ready to go, alright guys, can I count on you?"

"Suuuure…" the kids sounded a little dispirited.

"Don't be like that, you guys!" Shino groaned from beside Alice. "Put your back into it! Try to impress her!"

Alice sighed, but smiled as she rolled her eyes. "Alright, lift this one up please," she called out. "Let's find out how bad the damage is."

"Ossu!" the overly enthusiastic pervert vocalized as he worked the crane controls to lift the chassis up.

"If only you'd put the effort you put into trying to grope me into your piloting, then maybe you could beat me one of these days," Alice taunted him with a smirk as she moved to start removing the armored parts.

"What's a good life without a bit of fun?" Shino grinned. "I'm equally passionate about both girls and piloting too! You're just too good!"

Alice chuckled in response. "Hardly, I only consider myself to be mediocre to some of the pilots I've seen," she replied thoughtlessly, her mind casting back to the other 71 Gundam pilots.

"Eh, you're better than me though!" Shino shook his head. "Seriously, are you some kind of genius pilot or something? Whenever I think I'm catching up, you just pull ahead faster!"

"Nah, just had to learn quick if I wanted to survive," Alice answered as she got the last bolt holding the armor on loose and pulled off the armor covering the axle and sighed in relief as she saw that it was a clean break with it not puncturing anything. "If I didn't want to die, I had to learn how to dodge enemy fire and attacks."

"Sounds like you had it rough before," Shino thought out loud. "Then again it's pretty much the same for most of us here… Hey, never had anyone you liked before?"

"I had someone I admired," Alice replied after a moment of thought. "He was our leader, he gathered us all together, he gave us a dream to fight for…"

"Like Orga? Does that mean you like people like Orga?" Shino grinned.

Alice snorted. "It wasn't romantic," she informed plainly. "I _admired_ him, I looked up to him, but I didn't like him in that manner."

"Oh, so admire and like are two different things," Shino mused.

"Admire means you want to be like the person," Alice explained patiently. "Like how you want to be like Orga or Mika."

"Alright!" Shino beamed. "By the way, are you into guys at all? I hear girls like guys with a lot of muscle, but I've never seen you staring at us like we stare at you before."

Alice sniggered. "Don't know what I like to be completely honest," she admitted, unashamed. "Never really had a chance to explore that part of myself."

"So I still have a chance?" Shino grinned.

"Maybe," Alice shot him a smirk. "A small chance, but there is a chance."

"I'll take that chance then!" Shino laughed. "Alright, back to-"

*POP*

It was silent for a moment as people looked around at each other.

"GET IN YOUR UNITS!" Alice roared as she spotted the warning flare out of the corner of her eyes. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! Shino, on me!"

"Damn it, of all times!" Shino swore as he belted for his mobile worker.

Alice ditched her coat as she climbed up to the hatch for her own worker, attaching the AV system as she booted the unit up. "Anyone know who we're fighting?" she questioned over the radio as it powered up.

" _I don't know!_ " one of the scouts shouted in a panic over the radio. " _Mobile workers are coming in from the west!_ "

Alice sighed as she wheeled her red colored unit out of the hangar, followed closely by Shino and two others. "Alright, stick close guys, we've got to keep these guys out of here," she informed calmly. "They're most likely after Kudelia."

" _What? But she only just got here!"_ Shino groaned, pulling up to the concrete barriers arranged around the base and starting to fire into the distance where the enemy fire was coming from.

"Someone, somewhere leaked her location then," Alice replied as she moved around a large boulder. "Damn, this is a bad situation, anyone hear from Orga yet?"

"He's in the old geezer's office now!" one of the other kids radioed in.

"Right, hold the lines for now, don't go charging out into the enemy fire," Alice ordered as the Third group's mobile workers got into a firing line behind their prepared cover. "What are the numbers we're looking at?"

" _A lot of them!"_ someone squawked.

" _I need backup! I need backup!"_

" _AAAAARGH!"_

"Calm down!" Alice shouted out authoritively. "Form ranks, remember to take the range into account when firing at the enemy and pick your targets carefully, don't waste your ammo!"

" _FUCK YOU!"_ someone yelled over the cacophony of gun reports.

" _We're surrounded! When did they surround us!?"_

Alice growled as she opened fire at the enemy line. "Orga, you on the radio yet!" she shouted in frustration. "Hey! Taishi, don't break away from the firing lines!"

" _But I can't hit them from so far away!"_ came a reply as a mobile worker zoomed back towards its original position from where it had been preparing to head out.

" _Can we see who they are!?"_

" _I've got a visual! It's… GJALLARHORN!"_

Alice's breath froze for half a second at the information as her eyes widened. "Gjallarhorn," she whispered quietly as she gripped the controls tightly in anger. "To think… that you have fallen this low…" she shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. "Relax, our opponent may be Gjallarhorn, but they can be defeated just like any other human! Hold the line and draw them in closer to us. Remember, we have the home field advantage!"

" _R-Right!"_

" _Why is Gjallarhorn attacking us!?"_

"Like I thought, someone leaked Kudelia's location," Alice said as she adjusted her position slightly to dodge an incoming shell before returning fire. "They don't want her reaching the Earth to begin talks with Arbrau."

" _Dammit, how do they know where she was then?_ "

" _We didn't tell anyone!_ "

"Focus on the enemy," Alice snapped. "If I'm right, then they wouldn't want their actions here getting out and will kill everyone to hide their actions."

" _What!?"_

" _They can't do that!"_

" _FUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOU!"_

"Draw them in closer to us!" Alice shouted. "Don't play their game!"

" _I'm back. What's the situation?"_ a very familiar voice called in.

" _TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH, ORGA!"_ Shino hollered.

"We've confirmed Gjallarhorn is attacking, we're maintaining firing lines for the time being, trying to draw them in," Alice reported as she fired at the Gjallarhorn lines. "No Ahab Wave reactions yet, so no mobile suits are coming in."

" _No, Biscuit said they picked up one on the base's sensors. It's highly likely there's at least one somewhere nearby, but out of mobile worker sensor range,_ " Orga revealed. " _Mika, be ready to head back when I give the word._ "

" _Okay_."

Alice let out a hiss of frustration as she fired again. "Please tell me you have an actual plan here Orga," she said as she dodged another shell. "We still need some time before we can deploy _it_ right?"

" _We can't deploy_ it _too early, Alice,_ " Orga growled. " _We need the element of surprise. For now, just organize the defense. The First Group_ says _they'll flank around and attack from behind._ "

"I doubt you really believe that," Alice countered as she dodged another shell.

" _Which is why I had Biscuit prepare a little something for them,"_ Orga sounded smug as he said that.

Alice grinned as the Gjallarhorn mobile workers finally began to charge their lines. "Good to know," she chuckled. "Hey, Mika, Akihiro, shall we show them how it's really done?"

Akihiro snorted over the line. " _Of course,_ " he agreed, a hint of anticipation in his voice.

" _Sure,_ " Mikazuki agreed with a nod.

"Orga?" Alice questioned, looking for the tanned teen's permission.

"Go ahead and get up close and personal with them," Orga smirked as he pulled up to the battlefield on top of a mobile worker.

"Alright then, let's go!" Alice shouted as the three of them charged into the battlefield, weaving through the enemy's return fire with ease before they got close enough for their own shells to start ripping through the Gjallarhorn workers in a single shot. "Bet I can take out more than you two."

"You trying to make this a contest?" Akihiro growled as he maneuvered under one of the larger Gjallarhorn MWs and took it out of the fight with a burst of machine gun fire.

"Why not? Not like I'm afraid of losing to you Akihiro," Alice replied with a chuckle as she juked around the enemy units, her guns tracing lines through their armor. "Unless you're afraid of losing to me?"

"You're distracting me," Akihiro grunted, weaving between their opponents.

Alice snorted as she fired her thrusters to fly over another group, firing her rifles downwards. "Hey, this is boring when you compare it to sparring against Mika, can you blame me?" she commented with a chuckle.

"You guys talk too much," Mika remarked emotionlessly, kicking out a mobile worker's legs before shooting out the cockpit.

"And you don't talk enough," Alice countered humorously as she danced around another mobile armor, causing it to hit one of his own allies in his desperation to hit her. "You're kinda boring sometimes, Mika."

The taciturn young boy said nothing, opting to continue fighting.

"First night and it's already happening…" a masked woman muttered, watching the proceedings through a pair of binoculars, the soon-to-be battlefield highlighted in a green tinge from the night vision functionality. She blinked as she accidentally swept across a far too bright area and lowered the binocs with a muffled curse as she was temporarily dazzled. "Shit."

"Milady, I heard you swearing."

"I'm alright, just got dazzled by the flare," the woman muttered, taking off her gala mask for a moment to rub her eyes as the flare finally burned out. "Right then, I'm ready to go."

"Be careful, milady."

"I will," the woman nodded at no one in particular as she climbed into the back of the trailer parked behind her and threw off the tarp. "Kudelia Aina Bernstein is vital for Chryse's continued survival, I can't _not_ be careful."

Inside the trailer was a large, hulking humanoid shape, obscured by shadows but the shape was unmistakable. No other mobile suits other than a Gundam Frame had a V-shaped antenna after all.

"I'm counting on you, partner," the woman murmured, running a hand over the black armour before hopping into the cockpit.

Alice panted slightly as sweat dripped down her face as she continued to move around the enemy mobile workers, her rifles clicking empty as the last of her ammo finished off a Gjallahorn unit. "I'm pulling back!" she informed as she backed away. "Need to resupply!"

"Got it. I'll hold off on resupplying until you get back," Akihiro replied as he took out another unit.

" _Orga!_ " Biscuit shouted over the radio. " _Our worst case scenario came true, the First Group and the president are fleeing the battle from the rear. We're all alone out here!_ "

Eugene's growl was heard over the line briefly before he responded. " _So what in the hell are we supposed to do now? There's no way I'm going to die for this!_ " he demanded, looking back to Orga.

" _You won't have to,_ " Orga informed with a smirk. " _Time for us to change the game, right, Biscuit?_ "

" _So true,_ " Biscuit said in agreement almost a little too smugly.

In the distance, a set of flares launched into the sky, roughly from the direction that the First Group was headed for.

"What was that?" Shino asked, looking up at the flares.

" _Who did that, First Group?_ " Eugene asked in shock.

" _Yeah…_ " Orga answered in a smug tone. _"Looks like they're going to help us out and be our decoys after all,_ "

"Hah! About time those assholes actually did something useful!" Alice shouted gleefully as several of the Gjallarhorn units ran into CGS' minefield. "Now we got a chance here!"

" _Ahab Wave reactions!"_ someone yelled.

"SHIT!" Alice cursed, mentally berating herself for her premature celebration as the ground shook from several artillery like impacts.

A trio of large, mono-eyed, blocky mobile suits painted in Gjallarhorn's standard cyan colours dropped into the fray, the force of the impact throwing several mobile workers aside. They stood there for several moments before diving into action, one of them treading on the few mobile workers that hadn't been knocked over buzzing around its legs.

" _IT'S A MOBILE SUIT!"_

" _GET AWAY FROM IT!"_

" _HOW THE FUCK DO YOU WANT ME TO OUTRUN A FUCKING MOBILE SUIT!?"_

"Dammit," Alice swore as she moved her unit nimbly through the mobile suit's automatic fire as the Third Group units began to panic. "What the hell is Gjallarhorn doing?"

" _Oi, oi, are you kidding me?"_ Shino muttered, dumbstruck. _"They deployed fucking mobile suits to fight us?"_

" _I'll squash you like a bug!"_ the most aggressive of the three newcomers laughed maniacally on the loudspeaker as he stepped on another mobile worker, crushing it underfoot.

" _NOOO-"_

A burst of static as the scream cut off.

Alice gritted her teeth in response, hell with her ammo empty, she couldn't even return fire… but… she could be a distraction. "Hey asshole, over here!" she shouted over the speakers as she pushed the MW's accelerator to the max as she tried to capture the Graze's attention.

" _Heh, pathetic!"_ the Graze mocked as its foot came down again, only to hit air as Alice evaded. _"This one has a bit more spunk!"_

" _Alice! What are you doing!?"_ Shino yelled over the comms in a slight panic.

"Getting their attention, pull everyone back!" Alice replied before tuning out his reply as she focused. While not in a mobile suit or a Gundam frame, she could still do this. "Mind and machine are as one," she breathed out the mantra as she continued to dodge and weave the Graze's attacks. "As one, we reach the stars."

" _Mika, get to Orga now!"_ Eugene hollered.

Alice ignored the shout as she focused her entire being into moving her mobile worker around the ever increasingly frustrated Graze, breathing in perfect synch with her unit's movements as she occupied it's attention.

" _A new Ahab Wave reaction! It's getting closer!"_ Eugene called out.

Alice tilted her head at the news as she continued to move, sparing a moment to check the direction the reaction was coming from. "Any response on IFF?" she asked, her voice a bit toneless from her concentration.

" _No response on IFF! It's… not a Gjallarhorn mobile suit?"_ Eugene blinked.

Alice grunted a bit in response as she ducked between the Graze's legs in response before spinning around to get a better look at the approaching mobile suit. She inhaled sharply as her eyes widened, drinking in the black mobile suit, accented with white and blue highlights and the all too distinctive golden 'V' crest on it's forehead, hovering above it's two green 'eyes'. "Gundam Frame…." she whispered as the Graze she had been distracting disregarded her for the newcomer. Why was it wearing a golden gala mask though?

The newcomer swept in with a thruster-assisted forward leap, body checking the Graze aside and away from the mobile worker Alice was piloting. After a moment for the pilot to recover, the dark-colored mobile suit jumped off away from a sword swing, before withdrawing a pair of large, curved daggers of a familiar design she had actually seen before, but had most definitely not been equipped on it prior to the Calamity War.

"A khukri knife?" Alice whispered to herself as she began to pull her mobile suit back, something tugging at the back of her mind as she carefully watched the pair of duelling mobile suits. "Orga, make sure Mika's aware that there's a third party involved now, it has the same frame type as the one he's getting in now."

" _I'm seeing it. That one is… fighting Gjallarhorn?"_ Orga reported, sounding a little confused.

"Looks like it," Alice agreed as she pulled back from the battlefield, her breath coming out in pants as the adrenaline that had been pumping through her body began to subside. "Hey, Ride, get my unit reloaded and refueled! The fight's not over yet!" she shouted out as her mobile armour drove through the gates of the base headed for the hangar. "Orga, what do you need me to do next?"

" _Once you're resupplied, get back to the battlefield and continue fending them off!"_ Orga ordered. _"I don't know who that other mobile suit is working for, but it's not important so long as it's not attacking us!"_

"Right," Alice agreed as she arrived at the hangar, popped the hatch of her mobile worker and accepted a bottle of water and a nutrient bar from one of the workers and quickly devoured it. "I'll get back out there ASAP."

"Fuel's topped up!" Ride announced after several moments. "Just about finished with the ammo!"

"Thanks, Ride," Alice called out after drained half the bottle in a single go, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow.

" _WHO ARE YOU TO STOP ME!?"_ came an enraged yell from outside the base over loudspeakers.

There was no reply save the sound of metal impacting against metal, a din that could be heard from miles away.

"Looks like the Graze pilot is getting pissed," Alice commented as she looked over at where the noise was coming from. "What are the other two units doing?"

"Looking like they're about to join in," Eugene muttered. "First guy looks like he's having trouble dealing with the black one."

Alice let out a tsking sound. "Orga, how much longer until Mika is ready?" she shouted out as Ride loaded up the last of the ammo, knocking on the hull of the worker to give her the go ahead. "I'm not sure if our guest can hold off all three of them at once!"

"Buy us another two minutes!" Orga ordered.

Alice cursed a bit in response as she shook her head. "Dammit, this is going to suck," she groaned as she began to head back into the battlefield, slipping back into her trance as she weaved through a few of the wrecks of her fallen comrades. "What I wouldn't give to have Phenex right now," she mumbled angrily to herself. "I could've saved them…"

Shaking her head, Alice cleared her mind of the thoughts as she came up to small crest overlooking the battlefield where the four mobile suits fought. "A mobile suit and a mobile worker against three mobile suit… yeah… I really need to get Phenex after this," she commented to herself before jumping into the battlefield, aiming at one of the Graze's as she pulled the trigger. "Come and get me you fucktards…"

The salvo of shells drew the attention of the first Graze, the one with the more talkative pilot. _"Come back for more? I'll squash you pathetic scum under my foot!"_ the pilot roared as he turned to face Alice.

Alice tsked as she kept firing, aiming for the less armored sections of the unit, like the 'eye' and joints as she moved around it's attempts to stomp on her. "Mind and Machine, work as one," she muttered her mantra as she resumed her dance.

The Gundam intervened once again, coming down in a flying kick that rattled the first Graze and sent it flying off for a short moment before it flared its thrusters to stabilize itself and leapt back into the melee.

"Idiot, focus on yourself," Alice muttered as she dodged an errant foot from one of the Grazes as she weaved through the frantic melee.

The Gundam spun around in an attempt to kick away the second Graze, only for an explosion underneath its balancing foot to knock it off balance and send it tumbling to the ground.

" _Ah, those are_ our _landmines!"_ a cry rang out.

The first Graze immediately tried to capitalize on the slip with a downwards stab with its sword, but the Gundam rolled aside and sprang to its feet before lashing out with a khukri to knock aside a sword from another of the Grazes. The older mobile suit then swept the third Graze off its feet and tried to bisect it before it was forced away by the second one.

Alice panted as she fired rounds at the sensors of the third unit as it tried to attack the Gundam from behind, forcing it to raise it's arm to protect the vital components from being destroyed. "Come on… Mika… we can't keep this up…" she muttered as sweat dripped off her face.

The Gundam spared Alice a quick nod, the pilot still not saying anything as it swapped a khukri out for a SMG that had been on its waist, firing it at the three mobile suits and causing one to stumble when the rounds tumbled into it. Tumbled, they weren't flying straight…

"That SMG needs work done on it," Alice muttered as she zoomed in, firing at the exposed joints on the second unit, forcing it to keep moving lest she cripple his unit.

" _It's on purpose, for extra shock damage,"_ the pilot said on short-range communications as if reading her thoughts. In a very obviously female voice.

Alice raised her eyebrow at the familiar voice. "And how long have you been tapped into our communications exactly?" she questioned cautiously.

" _Since I engaged, Alice Senkei,"_ the voice said tonelessly, the Gundam ducking under a sword.

Alice snorted, finally placing the voice. "Is that so, Yuzuki Gardenia," she replied, her unit darting between the legs of a Graze before firing on the thruster ports of the unit. "So… who exactly hired you, because I am damn sure the fatass didn't."

The Gundam tripped over nothing, and quickly had to roll again to dodge another sword swing. _"I… I don't know who you're talking about,"_ the pilot hurriedly said.

"Eh, nice try," Alice countered as she danced around a stomp from the third Graze, unloading a few rounds into the ankle joint to force it to back off. "But you were the only non-regular visitor outside of Kudelia in the last month, not to mention the way you sat in your seat… only people with implants sit like that to avoid agitating the implants."

" _Anyone with an implant can pilot a Gundam Frame,"_ the pilot countered. _"Not necessarily this Yuzuki Gardenia you're speaking of. My name is Faceless."_

"Oh? So you actually tripped on something then?" Alice noted dryly as she slowly began to lead the first Graze towards the underground launch doors. "Not to mention the fact you're not even using a voice modulator."

" _It… what… oh, it broke in the fight just now!"_ the voice groaned as the Gundam, picking up on what was going on, began to do the same. _"I didn't even notice!"_

"And that's why you do regular equipment checks," Alice said blandly as she kept the lead Graze's attention on her.

" _Damn it,"_ Yuzuki muttered sullenly, her khukri biting into one of the Grazes' forearms before she had to abandon it to dodge yet another sword.

"Alright… Orga! It's time!" she called out to the white haired leader. "Please tell me he's on his way!"

Right on cue, the concealed launch doors exploded outwards in a cloud of dirt and dust, a hulking figure appearing from within. The first Graze had no time to react before it was clobbered by a giant mace right to the cockpit, instantly crushing the pilot.

" _Ouch,"_ Yuzuki winced at the sight.

Alice grinned as she witnessed Mikazuki's triumphant entrance to the battlefield. "Took you long enough… Mika!" she declared as her unit came to a rest next to the ancient mobile suit. "What, did you push it the entire way here?"

Mikazuki gave no verbal reply, instead launching his Gundam right at the other two Grazes, one of which stepped forward to meet him with a sword to his mace. _"Don't underestimate a Graze's power!"_ the pilot shouted.

Alice chuckled darkly as she followed after the Barbatos, using the white Gundam's bulk to hide her approach as he charged at the two remaining Graze's. "Don't underestimate _us!_ " she taunted in return as she came out of the Gundam's shadow to start firing on the second Graze's optics.

"Tch!" the Graze's pilot growled, bringing up an arm to shield as he backed away from the CGS Gundam Frame. Mikazuki seized the opportunity, lunging after it only for the third Graze to intervene with a salvo of rifle shots to force him to disengage.

"They're good at teamwork," Yuzuki remarked, sounding a little impressed.

" _Of course they are,_ " a masculine voice inputted proudly as Alice's worker began firing on the Third Graze's rifle, two shots striking it and rendering it useless. " _Those two are the strongest pilots of the Third Group, so… Yuzuki was it? Why were you spying on us?_ "

" _... We'll talk after the fight,"_ Yuzuki was more than a little put out at being exposed so easily. _"I knew subbing in for that sick driver was a bad idea…"_

Orga snorted in response as he watched Alice use Mika for cover from a Graze's retaliatory fire, the black haired pilot taking advantage of the distraction to make a massive swing with his mace. "Hey Biscuit," he grunted to the rountound boy. "I think… it's time for _it_ after this battle…"

"What?" Biscuit looked at Orga quizzically, before his eyes widened and he gulped. "So soon? Are you sure, Orga?"

Orga nodded, closing on of his eyes as he watched the Barbatos. "Yeah," he confirmed. "This is our opportunity…"

"We'll need to properly plan it out first," Biscuit said determinedly. "I'm sick of those First Group people too…"

The Barbatos' thrusters abruptly cut out as it was chasing after the two Grazes, one of which was missing an arm already.

The undamaged Graze immediately took notice and it hurriedly grabbed the second one and made to escape.

Orga chuckled as he nodded. "Yeah… we can't ruin this now," he agreed with a grin.

On the battlefield, the black Gundam watched the Grazes flee as it sheathed its weapons again. _"I'm not firing on retreating people,"_ Yuzuki declared.

" _Don't worry about it,_ " Alice informed, yawning loudly over the radio. " _C'mon, Mika, let's get back to Orga, looks like the fight's over for now…_ "

The Barbatos made to chase after the retreating Gjallarhorn mobile suits for a moment, before abruptly freezing in place and slumping over.

" _Mika?_ " Alice asked curiously.

No response.

" _Ah_ **shit**!" the female pilot cursed as she began scrambling out of her worker. " _The feedback from the mobile suit knocked Mika unconscious!_ "

"What?" Orga gasped in surprise as he knocked on the hull of the mobile worker he was in, causing Eugene to move it closer to the Barbatos.

They arrive just as Alice climbed up to the cockpit of the white mobile suit, popping the hatch open to reveal Mikazuki, slumped over and bleeding profusely from the nose. "Dammit, Mika!" Alice shouted loudly, trying to wake him up.

" _Don't touch him! It's dangerous to disconnect the Alaya-Vijnana system while the pilot's unconscious,"_ the dark-skinned mechanic hurriedly radioed in. _"Just leave him there and get him a medic but don't disconnect him from Barbatos to fix him up."_

"I'm just checking his vitals," Alice retorted as she pressed her index and middle fingers to Mikazuki's neck. "Pulse is strong, looks like he was just knocked for a loop from the feedback."

" _Maybe it's just as well I forgot to refuel the thrusters before launch… hard to say what might have happened if he'd given chase like that,"_ the mechanic groaned.

Alice snorted in agreement as she looked around the cockpit of the Gundam frame fondly. "Yeah… Mika is reckless like that, isn't he?" she asked rhetorically. "Anyways, he's fine Orga, just out cold for now."

" _Right,_ " the white haired leader sighed in relief. " _Might as well head back, Alice, get some rest._ "

"Sounds good," Alice sighed in agreement. "See you back at base then."

"I hate you," Yuzuki grumbled in a modulated, more masculine voice as she climbed out of her mobile suit, mindful of all the rest of CGS returning back after the battle. Compared to the last time Alice had seen her, she was wearing far thicker clothes that concealed her womanly appearance, as well as a short blue wig and a gala mask.

Alice snorted from her spot on top of her mobile worker, sitting cross legged as she stretched her body would. "Well, your own fault for not making sure your equipment was working properly," she replied dryly, catching a towel thrown at her from Ride to dry off the sweat on her body.

"It _was_ working properly until it was broken in the fray…" Yuzuki grumbled.

Alice shrugged in response before she began to down an entire bottle of water. "Whatever," she sighed in response, looking over as she heard the rumble of approaching mobile workers, the survivors of First Group rolling into base. "And the prodigal assholes return."

"Can I stab them?" Yuzuki reached behind her and partially unsheathed a khukri. "I notice they simply ran off and abandoned you."

"Don't bother," Alice replied in a bored voice as she ignored the First Group members. "They'll get what's coming to them soon enough."

"Fine, ruin my fun," the disguised woman sighed, sliding the dagger back into its sheath. "So… what are you going to do to me now? If word gets out that I'm Faceless, there'll be a lot of trouble for my company and I…"

Alice shrugged in response. "That'll be up to Orga," she replied, looking largely unconcerned with the whole thing. "But, he won't sell you out, he ain't like that."

"I hope so," Yuzuki frowned. "So… one of the best mobile worker pilots in CGS? You look like you'd be more at home in a mobile suit."

Alice shrugged. "I used to pilot them," she admitted. "But I couldn't bring it with me when I came to Mars."

"Huh…" Yuzuki stared at Alice with an unreadable expression for a while. "What kind of mobile suit was it? Graze Frame? Rodi Frame? Gundam Frame?"

Alice didn't reply for a while. "An old frame," she replied noncommittally. "Nothin that ain't in production right now, prolly won't see anything like it."

"That's vague," Yuzuki pouted. "But alright… how long is Orga going to take anyway?" she glanced over at where the Barbatos was kneeling.

"He'll move when Mika's awake," Alice informed looking over to the Barbatos as well. "Mika's his right hand man after all."

The disguised woman let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of her head in frustration. "In so many years I've never been unmasked like this once… being busted so soon after meeting you is a little frustrating. Just because I decided to open my big mouth…"

Alice smirked at her with hooded eyes. "Why _were_ you watching us anyways?" she questioned nonchalantly. "Were you _that_ enamoured with me when we met?"

"I wasn't watching you actually…" Yuzuki sighed. "I was watching Kudelia."

"For what reason?" Alice asked, while her entire body conveyed a sense of boredom, the eyes that bored into the disguised girl spoke a completely different story.

"She's obviously a target of someone who wants her dead, and I'm not about to let someone who's going to help Mars die," Yuzuki pointed out. "No one's hiring me, I'm doing this because I want to."

Alice hummed as she continued to inspect her for several moments. "Alright then," she announced, breaking her stare to stand up. "I'm going to go get something to eat, we actually have hot food today."

"Shall I join you?" Yuzuki smiled. "I'm sure I can spook the selfish assholes a little as Faceless…"

"If you want," Alice shrugged. "The First Group always eats in their barracks, so I ain't worried about it."

"After you guys just sabotaged their escape I'm not entirely sure how they'd react though," Yuzuki pointed out, falling into stride behind Alice, ignoring the stares directed her way.

"Orga will handle it," Alice replied. "He always has, he always will. So, don't start anything and ruin it."

"Well I'm sure my presence will unnerve them a little at least," Yuzuki shrugged. "You know, I've actually attacked the First Group before."

"The life of a mercenary," Alice countered. "One day you're paid to fight each other, the next you're paid to help each other. Please, just keep your head down."

"I'm not a merc," Yuzuki protested, stopping. "Fine, I'll just come back some other time. I don't think I can resist the urge to stab someone if they started picking fights."

Alice snorted as she shrugged. "Very well," she said with a sigh. "Either me or Orga will get into contact with you."

"Things seem to have gotten awkward quite quickly between us…" Yuzuki sighed, rubbing the back of her head.

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Only for you," she replied with a shrug. "I frankly don't care."

"Well, I'll drop the mask thing next time and I'll be able to relax a little," Yuzuki waved as she headed back towards her mobile suit. "I'll see you around."

"Later," Alice waved in return as she turned away to head for the cafeteria. "Make sure you take care of that Gundam Frame of yours."

"She's my partner, why wouldn't I?" Yuzuki smiled.

"Good," was all Alice said before she disappeared deeper into the base, no doubt hunting down some food.

"And here I thought we had something good going on when we first met…" Yuzuki sighed wistfully, grabbing onto the ascent line going to her Gundam's cockpit.

Alice smiled distractedly in thanks to Cracker as she accepted the bowl of vegetable stew from the girl before moving to a table to eat. ' _Gjallarhorn has really fallen,_ ' she thought to herself as she frowned, eating robotically. ' _Their corruption is so ingrained into their organization that they feel threatened by a single girl who talks of independance… they don't do anything about the rampant slavery and child extortion… Agnika… my comrades… they'd be rolling in their graves if they knew what happened to our organization._ '

"Alice, is something wrong?" a young girl with short, curly dirty blonde hair asked as she sat down beside Alice, nursing a bowl of stew.

Alice blinked as she snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, Atra," she sighed, smiling at the girl. "I'm fine, just distracted it all, thanks for making the meal by the way. It's always nice to have warm food."

"Don't mention it!" Atra grinned. "I heard there was a big fight earlier though, is everyone okay?"

"Mostly," Alice replied, pausing for a moment. "We lost a few of the newer members of Third Group unfortunately… our opponents were particularly ruthless."

"What about Mikazuki?" Atra asked, sounding a little worried.

"He's fine," Alice assured the girl with a smile. "You still have a chance to tell him how you feel."

"Ah… ah…" Atra blushed. "It's… it's not like that! I'm… just worried about him…"

"Sure you are," Alice teased lightly. "But, if you're so worried, you can check on him yourself, he's over there with Kudelia right now."

"It's… alright, I'll talk to him later," Atra sagged.

Alice sighed as she nudged the girl. "You keep hesitating, someone will nab him before you do," she informed bluntly. "You don't want to regret something, do you?"

"Yeah, but… but…" Atra stammered shyly, poking her pointer fingers together nervously. "Now's not the right time…"

Alice sighed as she finished the last of her meal. "But when is the right time?" she asked rhetorically, looking over to the kitchen as Biscuit caught her attention with a meaningful look.. "That's the question you gotta ask yourself, thanks again for the meal, Atra."

"R-Right…" Atra slowly nodded.

Alice patted the shy girl's back as she stood, picking up her dirty dishes to bring back to the kitchen. "Just think about it, alright?" She requested over her shoulder as she left the table. "For what it's worth, I think the two of you would make a cute couple."

Atra went nuclear as her brain very helpfully supplied some images of a possible future. The two of them in fancy wedding dresses walking down the aisle… an older her with a baby bump…

Alice giggled as she watched Atra's brain pretty much shut down as she moved to the kitchen. "It's time?" she asked Biscuit lowly, the boy nodded in confirmation.

"They don't suspect anything just yet," Biscuit smiled. "Slipped the sleeping pills into their food as planned."

Alice nodded in understanding. "Alright, I'll be waiting then for the signal from you guys," she said. "Good luck."

"You too," Biscuit adjusted his cap as he headed off to look for the other members of their group.

Alice smirked to herself as they separated. ' _It's finally time, my new family will be taking the reins_ ,' she told herself mentally. ' _And we shall take control of our own destiny._ '

It had went perfectly as the First Group ate their food without suspicion, dropping like flies as the sleeping pills kicked in, allowing them to simply walk into their rooms, binding their hands behind their backs by their thumbs and relieving them of their weapons. "All secure here, Orga," Alice announced into the radio as she oversaw her squad members bind the last members together. "How are things on your end?"

" _Going smoothly,_ " Orga said, apparently also in the middle of trussing someone up judging by his grunts of effort. _"I got Gunnel. Maruba's nowhere to be seen."_

"Of course the coward fled," Alice sighed in disappointment as she got the confirmation that they rounded up everyone. "Do you want them all in one place?"

" _Yeah. Toss them all into the brig_ ," Orga's feral grin could practically be heard across the comms.

"You got it boss," Alice confirmed. "You heard the man, these guys belong in the brig."

Her squad members chuckled as they began to drag the men - not caring enough to be gentle with them as they loaded them onto a forklift pallet to bring them all in a single swoop. "Gotta say, this is one of the most satisfying days in my life, don't you agree, Shino?"

"Fuck yeah!" the boisterous MW pilot grinned, "Hey, we can rough them up a little before we bring them over, right?"

"Nope, Orga's orders," Alice informed with a regretful sigh. "But, we can't be blamed for any bumps on the way there, can we?"

"Oh, accidents can't be helped sometimes, right?" Shino agreed, 'accidentally' dragging an unconscious body over a conveniently-placed metal pipe, producing a rather satisfying thunk. "Ooops!"

"Now now, be careful," Alice reprimanded jokingly. "Just make sure you don't wake them up, alright boys?"

"Yes, ma'am!" came a jovial salute from the rest of the boys working with her, all in much higher spirits than usual.

Alice smirked as she dragged another First Group member out into the hallway, her own spirits lifting as well.

Alice grinned as she watched the commander for the First Group slowly return to consciousness along with the rest of the 'soldiers', leaning against the wall next to the door, eager to watch the coming scene.

"W-what the?" Gunnel grunted as he tried to move his arms only to be stopped by the bindings. "What is the meaning of this!"

"I just wanted to make things clear," Orga announced calmly as he looked down at Gunnel. "We're the ones in charge here now."

"Is that right, did you little piece of trash forget who you're dealing with?" Gunnel shouted indignantly, rage distorting his face as he struggle against the bindings around his thumbs.

"Yeah, we know who you are," Orga announced as he stepped closer to the large man, Mikazuki at his side as always. "You left our friends to die. You're all cowards."

Gunnel spat at Orga's feet. "Go to hell!" he shouted, letting out another lob of spit, in response, Orga reared his foot back before colliding it with Gunnel's face with a meaty 'thwack' sound. "Alright! Alright, just… take these off and I promise not to hurt you…"

"Hah… Maybe you don't understand," Orga retorted with a derisive look at the cowering man. "We aren't here to negotiate, you're going to listen to us, got it?" Gunnel growled as he glared at Orga angrily. "Our boys went down out there, you're the ones who've got their blood on your hands," the white haired teen continued, ignoring the growl as Mikazuki stepped forward. "Now it's time to pay for what you've done."

"Huh…?" Gunnel replied in confusion, his face morphing to one of shock and fear as Mikazuki present and loaded the pistol Orga gave to him earlier. "NO!"

*BLAM BLAM*

Two shots rang out, spent bullet casings clattering to the ground as Mika pulled the trigger, killing Gunnel with little fanfare, his face unchanging all throughout the action.

"Listen up, as of right now, the CGS belongs to us," Orga announced to the shocked room. "The choice is yours, you can either stay here and go to work for all us space rats, or you can leave and never come back."

"You bastards!" one of the men shouted angrily as he climbed to his feet to charge at Orga.

He didn't even make it a full step before Mikazuki reacted and put another two bullets into his chest, right where his heart was located.

"So, anybody else, 'cause we have no problem with making the decision for you," Orga informed, completely unruffled by the attempted attack.

"Excuse me, Orga?" a spectacled man called out hesitantly. "I wanna leave here."

"Wait," Biscuit interrupted before Orga could respond, making the man flinch back in surprise. "If I'm not mistaken, your name is Dexter Culaster, you're in charge of accounting, am I right? I'm afraid we can't have you leave just yet."

"EEEHH!" Dexter shouted fearfully, Alice chuckling as she ducked out of the bunk room now that the show was over.

"Assholes got what they deserved," Ride said darkly from outside the room, looking in at the scene.

"Agreed, it'll be nice only having to deal with _Shino's_ wolf whistling from now on," Alice nodding in agreement. "At least he's a gentleman about it."

"Oho, even our princess agrees I'm a gentleman!" Shino grinned as he stepped out of the room. "Does that mean I still have a chance?"

"A very small chance, but a chance nonetheless," Alice said with a teasing smile. "If you'll excuse me, I need to take a look at that Graze we captured to see if it's salvageable."

"Right, go ahead, we'll clean up over here," Shino waved the secretly former Gjallarhorn pilot away. "I want to pilot a mobile suit too… but if this one works, either you or Akihiro have dibs as our better pilots."

"I'll let Akihiro take this one," Alice informed with a grin. "I have a surprise cookin' up for myself."

"What!? D-Don't tell me you found a mobile suit by yourself!?" Shino squawked.

"Not quite found," Alice replied, a hint of sadness coming into her features. "Just… didn't want it to be used by people like Maruba."

"That's cruel, not telling us you had a mobile suit before… how did you get it though?" Shino groaned.

"A keepsake from the last group that I was with," Alice replied. "My commander let me keep it, partly as a memento, and partly because, well… the second reason is personal."

"Oh," Shino blinked. "But damn… our princess had a mobile suit of her own all this time… what kind of mobile suit is it? Is it an awesome one like Barbatos? Or a Graze? Tell me it's painted an awesome, manly color like pink, please."

"Pink is manly?" Alice questioned with a incredulous look. "And I am not going to ruin the surprise."

"Of course pink is a manly color!" The boisterous MW pilot exclaimed. "My manly spirit is burning in pink, how can it not be a manly color!?"

Alice stared, wide eyed at the teen in bewilderment. "I have no words for that," she replied in a deadpan.

"Ah, are you doubting my manliness!?" Shino gasped.

"No, you are free to believe what you wish to," the sole female member of CGS informed. "I'm just not sure how to correlate the color pink, with manliness."

"What does 'correlate' mean?" Shino asked.

"To match up, compare," Alice explained, shaking her head with a sigh. "I'm going to go work on the Graze now, go play with your pink ponies, Shino."

"I feel like I'm being looked down on when you say that!" Shino wailed as Alice walked away.

"I wonder why?" Alice retorted over her shoulder as she waved goodbye, before mumbling to herself. "Seriously, _pink_?"

"So, you have access to a mobile suit then?" Orga questioned in surprise as he looked up at where Alice was sorting out the Graze's cockpit, throwing out the unsalvageable items.

"Yup," Alice pulled herself out of the cockpit, grabbing a nearby rough rag to try and scrub some of the oil off of her bare arms. "It's stored about a day's drive from here in a safehouse my old group used."

Orga nodded in understanding, especially having heard her reason for not telling Maruba about it, the fatass would probably have tried to take it away from her to either sell it off for a quick buck, or give it to the First Group. "Go ahead and get it, we could use every advantage we could get," he told her. "Especially if Gjallarhorn decides to come back again."

"Alright, I'll head out right away then," Alice replied with a grin. "I'll take one of the junker cars so we don't have to worry about bringing it back, I can just use my Phenex to get back here."

"Phenex?" Orga wondered. "Never heard of a mobile suit called a Phenex."

"I can guarantee you never seen a mobile suit like Phenex," she announced proudly as she climbed down from the Graze. "You'll see when I get back, just how awesome it is."

"Is it a custom Graze or a Gundam Frame like Barbatos?" Orga asked, catching a small twitch from her on the latter. "Heh, you're something else alright, hiding a Gundam Frame for so long…"

"You're very perceptive, Orga," Alice relented with a sigh. "But yes, it's full name is Gundam Frame Phenex, and even among the seventy two Gundam Frames, it's special, it's one of the handful that can transform into a secondary mode."

"I see," Orga nodded. "That'll be more work for the old man then… he's going to complain about having to maintain yet another Gundam Frame…"

Alice waved him off. "Unless it's something serious, I can handle the Phenex," she replied. "We had to work on our own units, especially me, I was long-range interception and scout, so if I went down out in the field, it could take hours for help to reach me, so I had to learn how to repair and maintain it myself."

"Well, try teaching the old man a few extra tricks for working with mobile suits if you can," Orga grinned. "He could use the help, he's been a mobile worker specialist all this time after all."

"I'll try and teach that old dog some new tricks," she informed as she pulled on the CGS jacket. "I'll see you tomorrow, Orga, don't get yourself into trouble without me around to pull you out of it."

"Right, right. And I want some answers from our mystery friend too, get in touch with her," Orga added, waving as he left..

"I'll call her on my trip," Alice promised as she made her way to the vehicle compound to get their oldest vehicle. "But, I don't think she's against us exactly," she added to herself, grabbing a set of keys from the hooks and signing out the car. "Still, depending on what we do next, couldn't hurt to have her around."

"Hmmm," Yuzuki inspected her backup mask now stowed away inside her Gundam, as well as her newer one with a warning light that lit up whenever the voice changer was faulty. "I am not getting caught out like that a second time…" she muttered to herself, grumpily closing the storage compartment.

Her phone started to ring suddenly as she as closing the compartment, making her jerk in surprise.

Yuzuki yelped and fumbled with her phone for a while, dropping it into the cockpit with a muffled curse. She went after it with some difficulty and took the call. "Hello?" she hurriedly calmed her breathing down.

" _Hello, Yuzuki,_ " the familiar cheerful voice of Alice came through the phone line. " _You sound out of breath, did I interrupt some fun?_ "

"Ugh. I fumbled with my phone, alright?" Yuzuki groaned, sitting down on her cockpit seat. "Need another shipment of food?"

" _Not at the moment, CGS is under new management and the boss wanted to talk terms with you._ " Alice explained. " _Just wants to make sure you can be trusted, he's a bit paranoid like that._ "

"Right…" Yuzuki rubbed the back of her head in slight frustration. "I'll come over tonight if you're free. Glad to hear those human trash aren't in charge anymore."

" _Ah, actually I'm not going to be at the base for a day and a half at least,_ " Alice informed bluntly. " _The boss will talk to you, but I won't be there, picking up an old friend of mine._ "

"... Don't I at least get some emotional support?" Yuzuki groaned.

Alice laughed in response. " _He only_ looks _scary,_ " she assured the pilot. " _Like I said, he only wants to talk terms, he's not looking to exploit you or anything, he knows enough about what that's like on the receiving end._ "

"Fine," Yuzuki slumped. "Don't I at least get to see you again someday? I feel… a need to get you in some nicer looking clothes."

" _What use do I have for those?_ " Alice questioned, Yuzuki could hear the ruffling of cloth over the line, obviously the blonde was looking herself over. " _My clothes are just fine. No holes or anything that needs to be patched._ "

"Just because your clothes don't have holes in them or need patching doesn't mean you shouldn't wear nicer clothes!" Yuzuki insisted. "You'd be beautiful if you tidied up a little…"

" _But they serve their purpose,_ " Alice replied, still sounding confused. " _And don't even_ think _about caking anything onto my face!_ "

"Bleh, I hate makeup as much as you do," Yuzuki made a face. "And you can still look pretty while having functional clothes, so why not?"

Alice grumbled over the line for several moments in response. " _You're not going to let this go, are you?_ " she grunted out after a few moments.

"Nope," Yuzuki smiled. "I must have my honor satisfied after you outed me like that."

The blonde on the other side of the line grumbled again in response. " _Fine, but I'm not sure when I'll get some free time to do any shopping,_ " she relented with a heavy sigh. " _After all, I have to teach our mechanic how to maintain mobile suits now too._ "

"I look forward to it," Yuzuki chuckled. "I can offer some of our own mechanics to teach him."

" _That you would have to talk to Orga about,_ " Alice admitted. " _But I don't see him saying no, I got to go for now, making a pit stop for my road trip, kinda need to eat, even when driving._ "

"Just… don't crash or anything eating while driving," Yuzuki pinched the bridge of her nose in consternation at the other girl's antics. "I'll see you around sometime."

" _Eh, can't be harder than driving a 16-wheeler with a container full of injured people through a battlefield,_ " Alice commented distractedly. " _Well, cya!_ "

The line cut out, leaving Yuzuki staring incredulously at her phone. "Driving a 16-wheeler with a container full of injured people through a battlefield…? What?" she croaked.

Alice let out a tired yawn as she _finally_ pulled into the forgotten Gjallarhorn safehouse, irritable not only from staring at the road for damn near 18 hours with only snatches of sleep every now and then on the side of the road, but also the call she got from Biscuit about the duel one of the Gjallarhorn pilots requested. "We were _never_ that stupid," she groaned out angrily. "Even Bauduin wasn't that bad when it came to his goddamn chivalry."

Letting out a sigh, she stepped out of the car and pulled back the rock that was covering the access panel before letting it scan her biometric data. "Glad Gjallarhorn seemed to have forgotten about this place," she murmured to herself as she got back into the car to pull it into the safehouse proper. "Phenex my old friend, time for us to show Gjallarhorn what it means to be a Gjallarhorn pilots."

Entering the small hangar she grinned at the Phenex that was currently parked inside in it's flight mode. "Sorry I haven't taken you out my friend, but… I've found some people that I can trust," she shook her head briefly to clear the nostalgia that was filling her. "Might as well get my pilot suit on and head back to the base, I need a proper bed and sleep."

Yawning again she pulled out the pilot suit from a storage compartment and began to change.

"Ah, I'm here to see Orga Itsuka?" Yuzuki leaned out of her car window to talk to one of the new sentries, one of the barely even teenaged boys. "It's about Faceless."

"Yuzuki, right?" the teen questioned, checking a nearby list. "He's expecting you, go ahead to the main building, Biscuit will be waiting to guide you to the boss' office."

"Alright," Yuzuki smiled at the child as she waited for the boom gate to open before driving in.

She guided her vehicle to the main building where a large teen boy was waiting for her with a smile. "Yuzuki? I'm Biscuit, welcome to Tekkadan," he greeted her cheerfully.

"Tekkadan?" Yuzuki blinked, then looked around the place. Most of the usual adults were gone. "Oh… congratulations on finally kicking those bullies to the bucket."

Biscuit grin at her in response. "Yup, Orga is the one who is in charge of the base now," he explained, leading her into the building. "We renamed it last night, after Mikazuki dealt with a Gjallarhorn mobile suit."

"Another one?" Yuzuki blinked. "By the way, you're… aware of my identity, right?"

Biscuit nodded. "Only some of the older boys and Yukinojo know," he assured. "Although I guess we're the command staff now."

"I really shouldn't have gone and opened my mouth during that fight…" the Gundam pilot groused. "Me and my big mouth."

Biscuit chuckled a bit in amusement. "We aren't interested in telling anyone," he assured. "We were actually hoping to employ your services for our current job with Kudelia Aina Bernstein."

"I'm not a mercenary, you know," Yuzuki pointed out. "I fight for peace and to ensure justice is done. I don't care how idealistic it may seem, any small amount of difference I can make is enough."

"Fair enough, but isn't that what Kudelia is trying to do?" Biscuit questioned with a grin. Sometimes it paid off being one of the more politically minded boys of their group.

"I suppose I do have a legitimate reason to follow you to Earth though - to protect her," Yuzuki admitted. "All I ask is that my mobile suit be properly maintained along the way there, and that I get fed properly."

"Well, Alice will probably handle most of the mobile suit maintenance along the way, at least until she can get our proper mechanic trained up to lead crews with an idea of what he's going," Biscuit admitted. "And don't worry about getting fed properly, in fact, we just hired on a cook for our ship and base!"

"And…" Yuzuki paused as she looked around to make sure no one was listening in. "Can I… keep using my disguise on whatever ship you're using?" she asked meekly. "Of course I don't mind revealing myself to the command staff… but the less people who know I'm Faceless the better."

"I don't think there will be a problem with that, but you'll have to clear it with Orga first," Biscuit smiled as they came up to the door to Orga's office. "Yuzuki is here, Orga."

"Come on in," the tanned teen replied, loud enough to be heard through the door, the two of them coming in to see him looking over a tablet filled with reports. "Welcome, thanks for coming, Yuzuki."

Yuzuki steeled herself. "It's nice to meet you, Orga Itsuka," she smiled, extending a hand warmly. "I've heard about you from Alice."

Orga accepted her handshake and gestured to the chairs surrounding a coffee table as a signal for her to take a seat. "Recently, Kudelia Aina Bernstein agreed to keep Tekkadan on as her escorts to Arbrau for her talks with their parliament," Orga explained calmly. "Now, we can take on the job as is, and are outsourcing a guide to Earth, but we would like to subcontract you into the job as added protection from future Gjallarhorn or pirate attacks."

"You already have one Gundam Frame though, and you're asking for my own Gundam Halphas in addition to that?" Yuzuki asked. "Even just one is a lot of extra firepower."

"Pretty much," Orga nodded in confirmation, keeping the Phenex a secret for now as per Alice's wishes. "Alice is picking up an old mobile suit she used with her old group, and we _do_ have two Grazes that our chief mechanic is trying to cobble together into something usable. But what we lack, outside of Alice, is experienced pilots in mobile suits."

"I see," Yuzuki nodded. "Understand that I am not a mercenary, and hence I'm not going to ask for money. I fight to protect peace and for justice to be done. All I ask is that my Gundam is kept properly maintained, and that I get meals every day."

"Well, that makes things very simple for us," Orga blinked in surprise as he looked at her. "Are you sure you don't want any payments of some kind?"

Yuzuki smiled wistfully. "I'm idealistic I know, but it isn't wrong to be idealistic. Justice is my best reward for what I do. Money I have enough of."

"Well, if you're certain of that, then we can definitely guarantee that," Orga nodded in agreement. "We've got a group going to the spaceport now to have our ship's name officially changed and prepped for the trip, and from her last report, Alice actually should be getting back in a couple of hours at the most."

"Alright," Yuzuki smiled. "Also I'd like to be able to wear my disguise while working with you. I don't mind the command staff knowing about my identity as Faceless, but the less people who know, the better."

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem," Orga informed with a nod. "Just don't be surprised if the kids try to unmask you out of curiosity."

"They can try," Yuzuki chuckled. "Maybe I can also be on the ship as my unmasked self? Otherwise I'm going to suffocate wearing that costume around the whole trip."

"Sure, just so that you're aware, as your unmasked self, you will have to help around on the ship in some way," Orga shrugged. "We're not exactly a ferry and we'd have to have some way to excuse your presence."

"I have some corporate business on Earth to attend to so it works out," Yuzuki smiled. "I'm a pretty good cook too."

Orga nodded in agreement. "Alright then," he vocalized. "That should work out plenty then, pleasure to work with you, Yuzuki."

A beep sounded at Orga's desk making the two of them look over as one of the scouts reported in. "Boss, we have an Ahab Wave reaction coming in, it matches the profile Alice gave us for her unit," the scout informed. "At this rate, she should arrive in about three minutes."

"Thanks for letting me know," Orga replied before cutting the link.

"I wonder what kind of mobile suit Alice is piloting," Yuzuki murmured.

The white haired teen grinned at her. "Why don't we go see," he told her as he stood up from his desk. "She told us it was quite something after all."

"Sure," Yuzuki smiled as the sound of high powered thrusters began to get closer and louder.

As soon as the pair exited the building a red blur passed overtop with a small sonic boom, one that resolved itself into a jet fighter looking shape with sweeping wings as it banked to line itself up with the base. As it came in it began to shift a bit as it seemed to lengthen out and turn itself up into the size of a proper mobile suit, the thrusters in the wings on it's back flaring a couple of times as it slowed itself to touch down lightly.

Yuzuki was gawking at the head of the mobile suit, which very clearly featured a V-fin.

"Damn, she was right, it really is something," Orga commented, a wide grin on his face as the unit moved to it's knees and entered a standby state. "A transforming mobile suit… hell, that's something I don't think even Gjallarhorn has."

"It's a Gundam," Yuzuki murmured. "Another Gundam. Alice didn't tell me she had a Gundam Frame herself."

"Ah, she wanted it to be a surprise," Orga said as the cockpit opened up to allow Alice to climb out of it, a rope ladder being thrown out of it to allow her to climb down the mobile suit. "Damn, even telling me it was a Gundam Frame didn't reveal _all_ of the surprises."

"Isn't that… a Gjallarhorn pilot suit?" Yuzuki blinked.

"Is it?" Orga asked, shrugging. "Never seen one before, so I couldn't tell you."

"I'm back, Boss," Alice said with a grin as she walked forward, holding a helmet under her arm. "Phenex is a beauty, isn't she?"

"Gundam Frame Phenex…" Yuzuki stared. "It was one of those that went missing without a single trace at the end of the Calamity War…"

"Hm? You know about it?" Alice questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh… I researched about the Gundam Frames hoping to find out where they were and whose hands they had ended up in," Yuzuki explained. "The Phenex was one of the odd ones out, no records after the Calamity War."

"Ah, no surprise about that really," Alice said, looking back at it with a fond smile before leaning into the pair. "It never left my hands," she whispered, winking before moving away to the building.

"What does she mean by that?" a puzzled Yuzuki turned to stare at Orga.

Orga blinked several times as he frowned in thought, turning to look at the retreating back of Alice as she entered the building. "Never left her hands?" he mumbled to himself as several pieces of information filed away, his eyes widening in shock. "It… _never_ left her hands… she's _always_ had it…"

"Is it… even possible?" Yuzuki whispered, having come to the same conclusion. "That would make her centuries old, but she looks our age…"

"I… I don't know," Orga admitted as he began to move to the building. "Just going to have to ask her, she wouldn't have dropped something that big if she didn't want us to ask…"

"Cryostasis?" Yuzuki suggested.

"Cyro-whatsis?" Orga asked with a confused look.

"Cryostasis," Yuzuki corrected. "The act of freezing a living body in cold sleep, to wake up at a later date."

Orga hummed in response, his right eye closing as he thought the information over. "Would make sense," he said contemplatively. "But the question of _why_ still remains..."

"That's what we'll need her to tell us," Yuzuki sighed.

Orga nodded in agreement as he began walking to his office, the male letting out a sigh of frustration as he walked. "She's probably changing right now," he told Yuzuki. "I've gotten to know her fairly well, she'll show her face soon enough to make sure we got the hint she dropped on us."

"She's full of surprises, isn't she?" Yuzuki muttered.

"You're telling me," Orga groaned. "From the data pulled from her mobile worker, her reaction time nearly _doubled_ when she was fighting those MSs, it was like the information feed from the AV system went into overdrive or something, like Mika's triple AV connection…"

"Alice… who are you, really?" Yuzuki murmured to herself as she followed Orga back towards the base, even as the rest of Tekkadan began gathering around the new Gundam in awe.

"So, you have questions then?" Alice asked with a smirk as she walked into Orga's office, the 'command staff' of Orga, Mikazuki, Biscuit, Eugene, Akihiro and Shino, along with Yuzuki, sitting around near Orga's desk. "Have you told them your theories yet?"

Orga shook his head in a negative. "No. I didn't want them against you if my theory is wrong," he said with a sigh. "Plus I think we'd all rather hear it from you."

Alice shrugged in acceptance as she took a seat of her own, reclining in her chair. "Well, I guess I should start from the beginning," she mused. "My name _is_ Alice Senkei, I was born on Earth, about 320 years ago, during the height of the Calamity Wars."

Eugene opened his mouth to say something, only to get cut off as Orga raised his hand, a silent command to let her speak, getting a thankful nod from the blond.

"When I was just a little girl, around the age that you guys would have gotten your AV implants, I lost my entire family to a weapon known as a mobile armor… don't ask, I do not want them to come back again." Alice said, her voice filled with nothing but loathing and restrained anger at the thought of the mechanical monsters. "I… was trapped in the remains of my home, and was rescued from it by a man by the name of Agnika Kaieru."

"That name sounds vaguely familiar…" Yuzuki thought out loud, trying to recall where she had heard it before.

"It should, he was the founder of the original Gjallarhorn," Alice informed, getting a shocked looks from the group. "I followed him ever since then, learned how to pilot to help him end the Calamity War, even underwent the AV implantation procedure for him…"

The room fell silent for several moments.

"You… knew the founder of the original Gjallarhorn," Orga's jaw found the floor.

"In person. And took the Alaya-Vijnana surgery for him," Yuzuki was trying to find hers underground.

Alice nodded in agreement, looking off into the distance with a far off look. "500 of us took that surgery, some out of loyalty, some desperation, some because they simply had nothing but revenge left in them," she continued, faces flashing through her mind. "Including Agnika himself… only 72 of us survived it, hence the 72 Gundam Frames… each one personalized for the pilot," she looked over to Mikazuki. "Gundam Frame Barbatos, piloted by David Rashid, he would've approved of your fighting style."

"Hnnn," the ever taciturn child soldier popped another berry into his mouth.

"But… despite our losses, we still won against the monsters that slaughtered us," Alice sighed as she shook her head. "The problem was… Agnika was unsure of the future, if the ideals he wanted for Gallarhorn would truly be carried out… if the monsters would come back… so, he asked me to give up my future then, to ensure the future now."

"So… is the Gjallarhorn now the same as the Gjallarhorn you once knew?" Orga asked, resting his head on his crossed hands.

"They disgust me," Alice snapped with an angry growl as she clenched her fist tightly. "They are _not_ Gjallarhorn, Agnika is _rolling_ in his grave at the thought of those _cretins_ who call themselves members of Gjallarhorn. Our role was to protect _everyone_ , not a privileged few who _pay_ for it."

"I see…" Orga closed one eye in thought. "To be honest, I was a little worried seeing you wearing a Gjallarhorn pilot suit… but at least now I know you're not with the current Gjallarhorn."

"Out of curiosity, what was the old Gjallarhorn like?" Yuzuki asked.

"We didn't spout anything about glory or honor," Alice replied. "We had a single objective, the protection of mankind, and we did anything needed to accomplish that. But besides that we were a family, we trusted one another we relied on each other, we felt each loss, but moved on. We would have stopped the Human Debris before it even began…"

"Doesn't sound a lot like the Gjallarhorn of today," Biscuit muttered.

"To carry the original ideals of Gjallarhorn into the future, that was my secondary objective," Alice admitted, looking down at her hand with a small smile. "I will always carry them with me, like Agnika wanted."

"We'll be here for you if you need any help," Orga declared. "We might not be as good as your former comrades though."

Alice smiled at him and shook her head. "That's alright," she assured. "I'm not expecting you to replace them, they are them, you are you. No need to compare you to them, you are different people after all."

"Are you sure you should be revealing this kind of thing to me? I'm an outsider after all," Yuzuki frowned.

"Tit for tat," Alice replied with a shrug. "I know yours, you know mine."

"Just like that?" Yuzuki blinked dumbly.

"Just like that," Alice confirmed with a smile.

"So you can blackmail me and I can blackmail you back," Yuzuki nodded to herself. "Perfect," she joked.

Alice rolled her eyes in response and turned to Orga. "So then, boss-man, what's on the agenda?" she questioned with a wide smirk.

"We continue on with our mission, escorting Kudelia Aina Bernstein to Earth," Orga said without missing a beat. "Half of Tekkadan will remain here, while the other half goes to Earth using the Will O' the Wisp, CGS' assault spaceship."

Alice nodded in understanding. "Alright then," she agreed easily. "Just tell me what you need from me, till then I'll be working on the Grazes and trying to teach Yukinojo how to work on Mobile suits."

"That'll be alright for now," Orga nodded. "Try not to put us into the red fixing them up though, we're running dangerously low on money since Maruba ran off with a lot of it, and we had to give severance pay to the people who didn't want to stay in Tekkadan."

"Well, I'll do what I can with the two, maybe we can sell the Ahab Reactors of one of them," Alice suggested. "But, I'm not sure if any of the merchants around here can handle that kind of product."

"I can't officially buy something like that under my company's name," Yuzuki shook her head in regret. "Sorry."

"We can figure something out," Orga assured with a shrug. "We'll be heading out as soon as the ' _Will O' Wisp's_ ' transfer of ownership is completed, so, we'll probably leave tomorrow, can you do anything with the Graze in that time?"

Alice hummed in thought as she considered her options. "It'll be a butcher job, but I can get something for it together in working condition, nothing with an AV connection though."

Orga nodded his understanding. "Do what you can," he requested with a nod.

"Aye aye," Alice chuckled in amusement as she stood up. "I'll be getting to work on it then, Shino! You're assisting me!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Shino saluted jovially as he stood up as well.

Yuzuki's eyes lingered on Alice a bit longer than was necessary as she left the room.

"Something up?" Orga asked, raising his eyebrow at the pilot, noticing her gaze. "You're starin' pretty intently."

"Oh, it's… nothing," Yuzuki quickly shook her head. "Just… she's adapting very well for someone that's been frozen for around three centuries… I feel sorry for her, having to leave all her comrades behind."

"Because he asked her to," Mika informed, his voice in its usual monotone. "He showed her a place she could belong, so she would give it up for him."

"I suppose so," Yuzuki sighed. "Anyways, Orga, I'll have the Halphas sent in by tomorrow with some spare parts for the Gundams. The Barbatos looks like it could use a few to tide it over until you can repair it properly."

"Awfully generous of you," Orga commented, raising his eyebrow. "How much?"

"Consider it a gift for helping me to protect my identity… and my family," Yuzuki smiled, extending a hand to shake. "And as a reward for being a loyal customer."

"My thanks," Orga said gratefully. "It would be extremely helpful."

"It's a pleasure doing business with you," the Gardenia heiress nodded.

"If you'll excuse me, I have about a metric ton of paperwork to go through still," Orga informed. "I'll tell the outposts you're free to come and go as you please."

"Thanks," Yuzuki smiled. "Oh, by the way, can you help me make sure Alice is free sometime later? I'm bringing her out shopping before we leave for Earth."

Orga blinked in response as he scratched his scalp. "Uh, sure, in about… four… five hours I think," he informed. "Yukinojo does have a solid base to work from for the Grazes, he just need her to show some of the more advanced stuff."

"Also, have you put some thought into how you're going to reach Earth?" Yuzuki added. "Since Gjallarhorn's after you, you won't be able to use the Ariadne network to navigate to Earth or they'll know where you are immediately."

"We're subcontracting a guide to bring us to Earth through some of the back channels," Orga explained, rubbing his eyes. "It's pricey, but, without it we'd be up the creek without a paddle."

"I wish I could help, but my company uses the Ariadne network too and we don't usually use the private shipping lanes," Yuzuki sighed in resignation.

"Don't worry about it," Orga said with a shake of his head. "We already have it set up, although we will need some more food for the trip, usual fees?"

"Yes, the usual," Yuzuki nodded. "I'll have the containers delivered to the spaceport your ship is docked at."

"Thank you," Orga nodded gratefully. "I'll have the payment go through the usual channels."

"And I'll give you a 10% discount since I'll be coming along on the ship as well," Yuzuki added, pulling out a calculator. "Think of it as my fare for the ride."

Orga nodded in agreement. "Much appreciated," he informed. "Also, be ready for combat as soon as we leave the atmosphere tomorrow," he added. "I'm hoping we're wrong… but…"

"Gjallarhorn, right?" Yuzuki frowned. "We have three Gundam Frames with us, you should be fine."

"Overestimating ourselves and underestimating them will get us killed," Orga counted with a fierce shake of his head. "I will not let them get killed because of that."

"You really do care for your… family, don't you?" Yuzuki chuckled. "I understand perfectly well."

"Family?" Orga questioned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"The whole of Tekkadan," Yuzuki gestured all around them. "Family doesn't have to be defined by blood alone. Most of you aren't related, but you've developed bonds that far transcend those of simple friendship."

Orga blinked a few times as he processed her words. "Family… huh?" he mumbled to himself, his eyes turning to the stoic Mikazuki. "Yeah… I guess you'd be right about that… never had a family before… none of us have…"

"You guys do everything together, and do everything for each other," Yuzuki added with a small smile. "Cherish your family, Orga."

Orga grinned at her in response. "I will be," he told her. "If you'll excuse me, I have a few things to finish before tomorrow."

"Right, I'll get my stuff ready and meet you at the spaceport," Yuzuki nodded, getting up from her seat. "A pleasure doing business with you."

"Enjoy your time with Alice," Orga called out as she stepped out of the room. "And I do want her capable of functioning tomorrow."

"You're exaggerating, I'm not that bad," Yuzuki chuckled.

"Wasn't talking about the shopping," Orga replied knowingly before the door closed behind her.

Alice sighed as she looked over one of the cockpit components from the second Graze, trying to seeing if it was salvageable before grunting and tossing it off to the garbage pile. "How's the Graze looking, Yukinojo?" she called out to the mechanic who was looking over the better condition Graze. "Can we use it?"

"Course we can, but the cockpit's totaled," Yukinojo frowned, peering into the cockpit. "We're gonna have to rebuild it from almost scratch, and hook up an Alaya-Vijnana system. No way our guys can pilot this thing without one."

Alice grunted. "Take Akihiko's mobile worker and use the cockpit parts from it," she called back. "He's going to be the one piloting it, I can salvage the majority of his cockpit, but we'll need some of the systems from his worker for it to work."

"At least now we won't need to decide which of the two of you gets it," Yukinojo muttered, scratching the back of his head. "Well, at least with you here we can get the Barbatos more battle ready. You could have told me you were good with mobile suit maintenance."

Alice shrugged. "And what, tipped by hand to Maruba that I have a mobile suit hidden away that he could try and take away from me?" she questioned rhetorically. "Besides, I'm rather specialized to MS maintenance. I only _really_ know how to work with the Phenex, and it's quite different from regular mobile suits."

"Hmmm," Yukinojo sighed. "Damn. I'm going to need to learn how to maintain all our mobile suits fast…"

"Should be easier once you understand the basics enough to teach some others," Alice assured with a grin as she delved back into the guts of the cockpit. "Just hope the Gundams don't get overly damaged, trust me, there's a _lot_ under those hoods."

"Knowing Mikazuki?" the wizened mechanic groaned as he headed off to locate Akihiro's mobile worker. "It's bound to happen, that suicidal way he fights."

Alice paused for a moment in thought. "I'll start making a list of common components we'll need for repairs," she announced with a relenting sigh. "Good news is, this cockpit is actually in better condition than I thought, we just need to modify it for with the AV system."

"And get me a Graze repair manual too if you can!" Yukinojo called from the other side of the hangar.

"I think I can swing that," Alice grinned widely. "I'll try and get you one tonight through my contacts."

"Wait, seriously?" he gaped.

"Most likely," Alice replied, winking at the large man. "I'll see if I can dig anything up on the modified version too for reference points."

"Actually just see if they have any Gundam manuals too, while you're at it, might be pushing it a little though," Yukinojo added, as the sound of a hydrogen engine starting up could be heard.

"I'll see what I can swing," Alice replied, shouting to be heard over the engine. "Can't promise anything, but I'll try!"

Akihiro's mobile worker rolled up a moment later and the engine stopped as the mechanic climbed out of the cockpit. "Much appreciated," he nodded as he got to work opening up the access panels.

Alice grunted as she removed the final bolt holding the cockpit in place and got started on disconnected the assorted wires. "What in the goddamn hell were the engineers thinking when they set up the wires for this?" she growled angrily.

"I'm not the right person to ask," Yukinojo shrugged, pulling open the side armour of the mobile worker.

"And the guy who is the right person is probably long dead," Alice commented dryly as the main power lines disconnected with a small spark. "I'm just glad they were smart enough to insulate and protect the main power lines in these things, some of the first mobile suit prototypes _didn't_ do that."

"Sounds painful," the old man winced as he twitched away from said main power line near where he was working.

"It is," Alice confirmed, grimacing at the memory. "But, they learned their lesson at least and protected it."

"So you were there then?" Yukinojo asked. "Orga told me a little bit, hard to believe you're actually three centuries old."

"Only technically," Alice replied, poking her head out to glare out, a splotch of grease staining her cheek. "I'm nineteen, tell anyone otherwise and I'll castrate you."

"Huh?" the oblivious mechanic blinked and scratched his head in confusion. "Women are weird," he decided and went back to work.

Alice rolled her eyes in response before diving back into the mobile suit. "Stupid Gjallarhorn engineers," she growled as she continued to try and disconnect the wires. "Don't know how to make a field strip ready unit to save their lives."

"Hey Alice!" Shino shouted from the hangar entrance. "Boss says you're off for the rest of the night!"

"What the hell you talking about Shino?" Alice questioned as she pulled herself out of the mobile suit to glare at the teen.

"Something about a promise between you and Yuzuki," the red haired teen informed with a grin. "She's taking you into town for some kind of girls night."

"What?" Alice repeated with a dumbfound expression.

"No need to be so sullen about shopping…" Yuzuki rolled her eyes as she navigated her jeep towards Chryse, with her fellow female Gundam pilot in tow.

"I was in the middle of disconnecting the cockpit when Akihiro _literally_ dragged me out of the hanger," Alice grumbled angrily as she scrubbed at the grease stain on her cheek. "Seriously, is this _that_ important?"

"For a girl it is," Yuzuki chuckled weakly. "Think about it this way, a lot of information gathering or recon can be done at any parties you might be able to sneak into, and you definitely can't sneak into a party wearing dirty coveralls."

Alice raised an eyebrow at the brunette. "And when, as a mobile suit pilot with an AV implant for a mercenary company, would I need to go to a party?" she questioned dryly.

"Oh, there are ways to hide it," Yuzuki winked. "You may not be able to rock a backless dress but enough padding done right can hide the whiskers. And you go to a party to gather information - you'd be surprised how loose Gjallarhorn officials get when they get a little alcohol in their system."

Alice continued her deadpan stare for several moments before relenting with a sigh. "Fine," she grunted reluctantly.

"You're the only person in Tekkadan who can do this kind of thing," Yuzuki smiled. "Guys without manners get noticed very quickly but women have a lot more leeway in these kinds of events so long as you know just a little bit on how to pose yourself and run your mouth. Trust me, I've been doing this for years."

"I thought I was done with this shit when I was frozen," she grumbled angrily. "Agnika would always drag me to those parties with the nobles who helped us start up Gjallarhorn. 'Learn to be a proper lady' my ass he just wanted to see me fall flat on my face in those stupid heels."

"Well, you've got some experience doing this kind of stuff then," Yuzuki smiled. "I'm not going to laugh, I promise. And unlike him, I'm actually a woman so I can guide you better."

"I hate it though," she grumbled petulantly. "It's just stifling and tough to move in."

"I'm more into looser clothing too, but the information you can get pays back the effort you need to put in," Yuzuki pointed out. "And you could use some informal clothes too. It'll be on me for today."

"I'm not escaping this, am I?" Alice sighed in defeat. "Just… don't make it too embarrassing."

"It's for your own sake as well. You could use some comfortable clothes to wear around, and have you been wearing a proper bra at all?" Yuzuki frowned, peering at the other woman's chest.

Alice shrugged. "Sports bras, mostly when I'm exercising or piloting," she explained. "Comfortable and not restrictive."

"Oh, a normal bra can be even more comfortable," Yuzuki smiled as the scenery changed from farmland to city outskirts. "When worn right, of course."

"Considering my daily activities of bare knuckle boxing, working with heavy machinery, teaching a bunch of kids how to shoot, and the fact that I don't like any kind of lace, do you really think I'm going to wear them?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"These days the better bras are even more comfortable and provide better support than sports bras while still looking good… with no lace," Yuzuki wagged a finger. "You've been behind the times too long."

"Really?" Alice questioned skeptically. "Last time I heard something like that Kendra forced me into a ball gown on our way to a ball…"

"I promise I'm not doing anything of the sort," Yuzuki said honestly. "I'm wearing one of these now and I've never gone back to sports bras."

Alice narrowed her eyes a bit in suspicion before sighing as they crossed into the city proper. "Just… don't go crazy on me," she pleaded.

"I won't," Yuzuki promised.

"So, what's our first stop then?" Alice questioned as she leaned back into the seat of the car.

Yuzuki pointed out the window as the jeep came to a stop, in front of a far more casual store than the time-displaced pilot had been expecting. "We'll work our way up to the fancy clothes, otherwise I suspect you'll be quick to run away," Yuzuki chuckled as she parked the jeep and turned off the engine.

Alice sent a small glare at the girl in response to her teasing as she climbed out of the jeep. "At least it's something simple," she finally sighed as she scratched her scalp. "Bare minimum when it comes to dresses, I don't want to flash people whenever I kick their asses."

"Hot pants, easiest to move around in," Yuzuki replied, pushing the door open and leading the other pilot in as she gestured at a rack of hot pants.

"That I can accept," Alice said with a sigh of relief as she zeroed in on them and began looking through. "Now _these_ I am familiar with, you wouldn't believe how blazing hot it can get in a mobile suit when your air conditioner is broken in a desert."

"Cropped shirts?" Yuzuki held out a sleeveless shirt cropped to end above her navel. "Get tops one size bigger, we'll need the extra size to hide the whiskers."

Alice shrugged in response. "Some large, I'm not ashamed of these," she admitted, pointing to the two implants sticking out of the tank top she was wearing. "Hm, those look nice," she murmured, a couple of sleeveless tops catching her eyes.

"I wish I could leave mine exposed more often," Yuzuki smiled weakly. "But my social position doesn't really allow it. I'll get the bras for you."

Alice shrugged. "Don't worry about it around the boys," she told the girl. "After all, they have them too."

"All the same I need to keep the fact that I even have them as much a secret as possible," Yuzuki sighed. "It could clue people into my identity as Faceless."

Alice smirked in response. "I can guarantee you, half the people in Mars and space have these," she assured her. "It really is nothing new, actually, back then it was considered to be 'exotic'."

"I know, but if I'm recognized having whiskers it could mean a lot of trouble for me," Yuzuki sighed sadly as she picked out several bras of various colors, mainly white.

Alice gave her a sad smile as she grabbed a couple of detached sleeves, some that hugged her skin, others that flared out a bit. "Hm, get me some reds as well," she commented to the girl. "Call it superstitious, but I like matching undergarments to the Phenex when I pilot it."

Yuzuki found herself blushing slightly at the mental image. "Um… that's actually a pretty… sexy color for underwear," she whispered. Why was she acting like a lovestruck schoolgirl?

Alice grinned in response. "He always told me red was a good color for me," she admitted with a nostalgic look in her eyes. "Plus, it's not like I just go flashing them to anyone."

"If you're sure…" Yuzuki relented and quickly dug out some red sets before returning to Alice.

"Thank you," she smiled at the girl. "I suppose you may have been right about me needing to do something normal."

"It's a little relaxing after all," Yuzuki beamed. "We won't get any chances to do this during our trip to Earth."

"True," Alice sighed with a nod as she grabbed a selection of clothing. "I'm going to try these on," she informed. "Be right back."

Several minutes later, Yuzuki stared, transfixed at the other woman as she stepped out of the changing room. Gradually her blush came back. "You… you look really nice…" she whispered.

Alice smirked in response, cocking her hips out as she rested a hand on them. She was currently clad in a pair of black hot pants with a pair of stockings coming up a couple of inches from the edge of the pants, leaving only a small swath of her creamy flesh exposed. She was also wearing a pair of white detached sleeves that flared out from where they clung to her upper arms, contrasting the red sleeveless blouse nicely. "Thank you," she replied, giving her a wink. "Been awhile since I wore something like this."

Yuzuki's blush deepened further, her eyes roaming across the other pilot's body.

Alice giggled. "I suggest you pick your jaw up," she teased lightly. "Any longer and flies might make their home inside of your mouth."

"Um… uh… did you put your bra on properly?" Yuzuki hurriedly fixed her jaw, though her blush stayed.

Alice giggled. "Yes, I know how to put a bra on properly," she commented in amusement, bouncing her chest a bit to test said bra. "And you're right, they definitely improved them, make them look a bit bigger too."

Yuzuki went bright red immediately. "Um… of course… of course they do… ahahah…" she stammered.

"Relax, Yuzuki," Alice whispered to her friend, patting her on her shoulder. "Just messing with you a bit."

"Um… of course… ahahah…" Yuzuki looked away, trying to hide her blush. "Um… It's not like I'm actually into other women or anything like that…"

"I don't mind if you are," Alice admitted seriously, making the younger girl meet her eyes. "Just give me some time, I'm still trying to figure out what I like myself."

"W-Wait, I-I don't… we barely even know each other…" Yuzuki sputtered, then sagged. "I'm not making a very convincing argument, am I?" she groaned.

Alice laughed in response as she shook her head. "And what we're doing is called getting to know each other, is it not?" she countered. "Besides, like I said, I'm still figuring things out, please remember, for all intents and purposes, for me, I _just_ got out of a war and everyone I knew and care about is now dead."

"I can understand that," Yuzuki sighed. "I… you're alright with being with another woman? You don't think it's weird?"

Alice shrugged. "I grew up in the middle of a war for humanity's existence, I've seen _every_ pairing under the sun, moon and then some," she countered with a significant look. "Compared to Lucas getting drunkenly married to his Gundam Marax, woman and woman is nothing to me."

Yuzuki let out a very unladylike snort of laughter and hurriedly clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Exactly," the blond chuckled as she shook her head. "Besides, like I said, I don't know what I like, maybe it's girls, maybe boys, maybe both, hell, maybe even Gundam Frames."

"Well, we still barely even know each other at this point…" Yuzuki shook her head. "Let's just be friends for now… I really don't know what came over me just now."

Alice smiled at her. "I don't mind you looking," she admitted. "Makes me feel good, I trust you enough not to take it overboard, you're kinda like Shino like that, he plays around with it, but respects the boundaries all the same."

"Keep tempting me with statements about your breasts looking bigger and I might just end up groping you out of curiosity," Yuzuki laughed weakly. "If I do that though… you have permission to grope me back in revenge."

Alice laughed honestly. "I just may hold you to that," she commented with a wink. "So, I think I have enough casual clothing, what terrible torturous thing do you have for me now?"

"Formal dresses," Yuzuki smirked.

Alice sighed as she slumped in response. "Let's get it over with," she grunted out reluctantly. "And no lace or frills, something simple."

"You might find you actually like those," Yuzuki giggled.

" _Extremely_ unlikely," Alice replied in a deadpan. "Now come on, I want to get _some_ sleep before tomorrow."

"I told you you'd like it," Yuzuki giggled, blushing heavily as Alice twirled around in a silky red dress with a slit cut down one side of the knee-length skirt part for easier movement.

"At least it's not frilly," Alice agreed reluctantly, looking at herself in the mirror, checking how it clung to her curves. "Nor lacy, I can stand this."

"Now, for a dress like this, to hide the whiskers you simply need a small cloak," Yuzuki added as she draped a short pale pink cloak around Alice's shoulders that covered her AV implants while being thick enough that it didn't deform to show them. "Or add on a scarf going down your back. Or you could even make some extra decorations along the back to make it blend with your dress instead."

Alice snorted. "Think I'll go with the simple cloak," she replied with a small roll of her eyes. "I ain't one for overly complicated stuff."

"Just be careful not to let people look up your cape," Yuzuki warned, lifting up the cape to demonstrate.

Alice snorted. "One useful thing I learned was how to 'accidentally' elbow someone in the face," she commented dryly. "I can keep them from looking, especially if I imply there's scarring from an accident, a proper gentleman wouldn't pry after that."

"You can't just go threatening people at a party though…" Yuzuki groaned.

"Not threatening, advising," Alice corrected with a smirk. "To threaten someone means a _chance_ of violence of some kind."

"Fine, fine," Yuzuki slumped over in exasperation. "Just… I think you know best what infiltration missions entail at least, so I don't think you'll simply go blowing your cover…"

Alice rolled her eyes as she moved to the changing room to get out of the dress. "Like I said, I can explain the cloak off as a way to hide some embarrassing scars," she replied. "Many who prescribe to being 'nobles' accept that at face value and don't pry any further, and wouldn't look twice if a man who was being too pushy about the subject suddenly had to leave to get his nose looked at."

"You win, you win," Yuzuki raised her hands in defeat. "You do have it in you to be a social spy…"

"No, mostly Agnika beat this stuff into my head since I was so insistent on being his aide pretty much," Alice replied as she stepped into the changing room to change back into the outfit she wore out of the last store. "I pretty much forced him to accept me as his assistant."

"Oh, so he effectively punished you for badgering him," Yuzuki realized.

"Pretty much," Alice agreed as she began pulling the clothing off. "But I learned how to move in social circles and what to say to whom to get the greatest effect, y'know, for being a dork, he was surprisingly charismatic when he wanted to be."

"I suppose you're really the only one in Tekkadan who can do things like this then…" Yuzuki nodded. "But you're going to want an alternate, forged identity to really be able to pull this off. Best not to identify yourself with the same name off the battlefield."

Alice shrugged. "I should be able to pull something up," she commented as she stepped out of the changing room, clad in her new casual clothing. "Reminds me, I need to pull the Graze and Gundam Frame repair manuals from the Gjallarhorn database tonight for Yukinojo."

"Yup… that really looks good on you," Yuzuki got sidetracked rather quickly as she looked away with a blush.

Alice chuckled in response. "Like I said, I don't mind you looking," she assured with a grin. "Was there any other stores you wanted to go to?"

Yuzuki shyly pointed over at a swimsuit store. "You… you never know, right?" she blushed. "Some p-parties are poolside parties…"

Alice raised her eyebrow in response. "AV Implants," she reminded.

Yuzuki slumped at that particular reminder. "Then… in private!" she declared.

"You just want to see me in a swimsuit, don't you?" Alice accused with a smirk.

Yuzuki slumped even further and only replied with a small nod.

"Well then, let's go," she announced, walking towards the indicated store.

"Eh?" Yuzuki gaped.

"What? I like swimming when I can," Alice replied, looking over her shoulder with a grin.

"Oh… uh… alright," Yuzuki took a moment to register before following her friend in.

"Hmm, I'm thinking a two piece myself," Alice commented to herself as she looked through the store with an appraising eye. "Easier to wear under my clothing during the warmer weather."

"A… a… two-piece…" Yuzuki gasped, then caught herself and shook her head to clear it. "Umm, a bikini would look good on you!" she declared, blushing rather brightly.

Alice chuckled in response. "You really are like Shino, aren't you?" she commented in amusement as she looked over some of the selections.

"Huh? Umm, who's Shino? And is that a bad thing?" Yuzuki paled.

"Shino's the red head teen that's usually working with me," Alice informed as she picked up a bikini with a flame design on it to inspect it. "He likes seeing my curves too."

"Ah… um… I like to think I'm not such a pervert…" Yuzuki shrank into herself as she began imagining Alice wearing the flame-patterned bikini in some rather compromising positions. The moment she realized what she was doing, she shook her head again to stop herself.

Alice laughed. "No worries, trust me, I've long lost my sense of shame," she informed with a grin and a wink. "Considering that my old friends have _all_ seen me run buck naked to the Phenex for an emergency deployment, I really don't have anything to hide with my body."

That one caused Yuzuki to go bright red and start stammering incoherently as her brain helpfully supplied the images.

"Yes, that did happen," Alice confirmed as she seemed content with the flame bikini. "So yeah, be a pervert all you want, just don't touch me like that until I allow it."

"... Okay," Yuzuki slumped. "Goddamn it, I'm actually a pervert…"

Alice patted her on the back. "It's better to be honest with yourself then to suppress yourself," she commented wisely. "That way you can live with no regrets."

"Being openly perverted would ruin my reputation in the social circles," Yuzuki pointed out with a deadpan.

"Not saying you have to announce it loudly, but just enjoy yourself when you can," Alice informed with a smile. "I know I enjoy myself when I'm working on my Phenex."

"E-Enjoy yourself…" Yuzuki's thoughts promptly took a turn in another direction.

"Not like that," Alice cut her off, knowing _exactly_ where the brunette's thoughts were going. "Shame on you," she added in a teasing tone.

"Ugh, I hate myself so much right now," Yuzuki groaned, covering her face in shame.

Alice shook her head in amusement. "Come on, let's go and find a public network terminal I can use," she said as they finished in the swimsuit store. "Then we can head back to base."

"Okay," the closet pervert whispered.

"Cheer up, Yuzuki," Alice said. "It's just something that makes you, you, and I find it kinda cute to be honest how red you get when your thoughts catch up to you."

"C-C-Cute?" Yuzuki squeaked. "I'm… I'm nothing of the sort!"

"What's wrong with being cute? Do you prefer adorable?" Alice asked, grinning at the younger girl. "Isn't that what girls want to be called?"

"I'm… used goods," Yuzuki sank.

"What do you mean?" Alice questioned, pausing mid stride to turn to the girl.

"It was when I was captured as a child, before I got my implants," Yuzuki recounted, a little shaky. "I was to be sold off as a sex slave… and they… they broke me in first."

Yuzuki blinked as Alice pulled her close, hugging the girl tightly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," she whispered softly into the girl's ear. "But that doesn't matter, you are the cute and adorable Yuzuki, your past only affects you if you allow it to, and it can be any effect you want it to be."

"I accepted that a long time ago," Yuzuki smiled weakly. "After that, I made so many escape attempts, getting… punished more each time I failed. Eventually they decided I had mettle and sent me for the Alaya-Vijnana surgery. My family found me just as the surgery finished and by then it was far too late to get the implants removed…"

"That doesn't make you used, nor are you goods, you are a person, like me," she informed, cupping the girl's cheek.

"I was just using it as a figure of speech," Yuzuki sighed. "I've learned to put it behind me since, but that time I spent being… trained as a sex slave still comes back to haunt me on occasions. It's why I put on a mask and became Faceless, I didn't want anyone else to go through what I did."

"I understand," Alice said honestly. "And I am sorry, Yuzuki, that the Gjallarhorn that I remember didn't survive, for if they did, you would not have had to go through that."

"Maybe, maybe not," Yuzuki smiled, hugging Alice. "Either way you're not the one who should be apologizing. Not unless you had a hand in what had happened to me."

"I know, but I feel it still needs to be said, as the last remaining member of the original Gjallarhorn," Alice replied. "We tried to make the world a better place, and our vision was distorted for someone else's gain."

"It happens eventually. Governments rise and fall, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create bad times and bad times create good men," Yuzuki sighed, still hugging Alice. "It's an endless cycle."

"It can be broken," Alice told her, allowing her to find comfort. "And eventually, it will, just keep hope for it alive."

"It'd take something pretty drastic for that cycle to break though, it's simply human nature," the broken pilot forced a chuckle. "But hey, I can get behind hope. In the meantime what we can do to help is just fight anyway."

Alice nodded as she let go of the girl, patting her on the shoulders. "Now come on," she affirmed, gently guiding her friend along. "I have a database to plunder."

"From a public terminal? You crazy woman…" Yuzuki groaned.

"Better than being traced back at Tekkaden or something similar," Alice replied with a shrug.

"So long as the cameras aren't watching you when you infiltrate," Yuzuki sighed. "Oh, who am I kidding, you seem to have done this before and you've probably hacked them before."

Alice smirked in response. "Trust me, back during the war, there were those who _didn't_ want us to succeed," she explained with a deep frown. "And there were times we had to dodge around those people."

"You know, I'm starting to feel a little insignificant next to you when you already know how to do so much," Yuzuki remarked.

"I grew up on the battlefield, in reality, I am _very_ limited in my skills outside of infiltration and mobile suit combat," Alice admitted sadly. "Just look at the fact that I don't know my own sexual preferences."

"Then I'll be helping you change that," Yuzuki declared. "If you don't mind that is, I'll teach you how to live outside the battlefield."

Alice chuckled in amusement. "I wouldn't mind when I have the time," she agreed. "I look forward to it."

"Even if I have you adopted into my family and you have to attend social gatherings all dressed up?" Yuzuki teased.

"No," Alice retorted with a small glare. "I'm only going to 'social gatherings' when I absolutely have to, no more, mostly likely less."

"But you look good in a nice dress…" Yuzuki giggled as she cupped Alice's bust, squeezing once before catching herself and freezing. " … Ah."

Alice blinked several times as she looked down at her bust in surprise.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry…" Yuzuki immediately backed away several meters.

Alice lightly bopped the brunette on her head. "Bad girl," she said teasingly, smirking at her. "Don't make me get the spray bottle."

"Don't treat me like a kid!" Yuzuki targeted a light smack at the other woman's bum, then caught herself halfway and smacked her shoulder instead.

Alice chuckled in response as she continued on her way. "You are just so adorable when you're flustered," she commented in amusement.

Yuzuki harrumphed and looked away from Alice with a blush.

"Come on, we can grab something to eat while I'm pulling what I need," she offered with a grin. "What are you hungry for?"

"Just a sandwich will be fine," Yuzuki said shortly, still not looking at Alice.

"Yuzuki, it's alright," Alice assured her. "I know you didn't mean it."

"Um well… I keep my word so you can touch mine back if you want…" Yuzuki said quietly.

"I'll keep it in reserve for a later date," Alice informed with a chuckle as they walked. "For when I feel the need for it."

"Anytime you want," Yuzuki muttered. The former Gjallarhorn pilot didn't need to even look at Yuzuki to feel the heat from the blush emanating off her.

 **END CHAPTER**

 **Model Number** : ASW-G-38 Gundam Halphas  
 **Unit Type** : Custom General Purpose Mobile Suit  
 **Powerplant** : 2x Ahab Reactor  
 **Manufacture:** Gjallarhorn  
 **Operator(s):** Faceless  
 **Equipment and Design Features** :  
Nanolaminate Armour  
Alaya-Vijnana System  
 **Fixed Armament** :  
 **Optional Armaments:  
** 2x Twin-Barreled 85mm SMG, waist carried when not in use  
225mm Gun/Launcher, backpack-mounted  
4x Khukri daggers, stored on back of waist  
 **Pilot(s)** : Faceless/Yuzuki Gardenia  
 **Appearance** : Slender armour with a pair of large boosters on its back.  
 **Info** : One of the 72 Gundam Frames used by Gjallarhorn in the Calamity War, the Halphas was lost after the war and only recovered several centuries later by the Gardenia family, although its discovery was kept secret to prevent the family from being drawn into the line of fire. It was forgotten until Yuzuki stumbled across it in an abandoned warehouse, and decided to use it to fulfill her dream of becoming a hero of justice.


End file.
